Bulgaria is on the way to give up billions under PVA due to pre-election decisions in the energy sector – Important today

Bulgaria is about to give up billions of funding under the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PVU) because of pre-election decisions in the energy sector.

Hours before the National Assembly (NA) goes on vacation MEPs rejected consideration of the Climate Neutrality Roadmap update, which was part of the weekly program of the 49th National Assembly.

Acceptance of the card is a key condition for the next payment under the Recovery and Resilience Plan. The document is the one that regulates the country’s commitments to replace coal-fired power in the energy mix with RES.

Against the background of the protests of energy workers and miners and their unprecedented inclusion in the parliamentary session, MPs postponed consideration of the key document.

At the same time, the people’s representatives also approved a proposal of GERB, pin addition, from 2024 to 2028, every year the budget will allocate BGN 250 million for land reclamation in Mini “Maritsa Iztok”.

Initially, the proposal provided for the amount to be BGN 200 million for a period of five years. But the DPS requested that the amount be 250 million BGN per year, and that the term be reduced to 4 years. The funds are intended for reclamation, but PP-DB warned that this could be perceived by the EC as illegal state aid.

The BSP, on the other hand, called for a complete revision of the “Green Deal” and withdrawal of the road map for climate neutrality for a new update.

The MPs also postponed the liberalization of the electricity market for household subscribers. This is yet another commitment that Bulgaria has made under the PVA. The date January 1, 2026 is part of the recovery and sustainability plan approved by the European Commission, according to which our country is entitled to 5.7 billion euros free of charge, Mediapool recalls.

For now, the deputies postpone the liberalization by one year – until July 2025.

Thus, the second payment of BGN 1.2 billion under the PVA continues to depend on the adoption of four laws:

• the rules for the election of the Anti-Corruption Commission;

• The Whistleblower Protection Act;
• The Whistleblower Protection Act;

• The law on personal bankruptcy – for which Petkov accused the “lobby of private bailiffs” of pushing their interests through GERB;

• The “Energy Roadmap” (actually these are regulations related to the Climate Neutrality Roadmap, which must be adopted after its approval in October 2023).

A day ago, the former Prime Minister Academician Nikolay Denkov warned that until the reforms required under the PVU are implemented, there will be no payments.

From his words, it became clear that GERB and DPS are blocking the adoption of the laws by delaying them in relevant parliamentary committees. Only the climate neutrality card had a chance to be voted on at the plenary session, but amid protests from energy and miners, its consideration was postponed.

Bulgaria is more than a year behind the deadline in which it had to fulfill its tasks under Recovery and Resilience Plan (PVU) to receive a second payment of more than BGN 1.2 billion from the European Union.

According to the original plan, there should have been two more payments, but there is a serious delay in the implementation of these two stages as well.

Denkov: Because of GERB and DPS, we are losing money under the Recovery and Sustainability Plan