07.10.2024

The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Lyudmila Petkova held a meeting with the Commissioner for the Economy Paolo Gentiloni ahead of the Eurogroup meeting. They discussed Bulgaria’s progress with the implementation of the Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP), as well as the government’s proposals for changes in the Plan and in the content of the REPowerEU chapter.

During the meeting it became clear that any moment now the European Commission would restart the period of assessment of the implementation of the reforms and investments under the second payment of the RRP and that Bulgaria could no longer delay the political decision on the amendments to the RRP. Minister Petkova informed that the caretaker government would take actions for the discussion and approval by the National Assembly of the drafted amendments to the Plan.

The preparation of the Medium-Term Fiscal and Structural Plan and the draft budget for 2025 were also discussed during the meeting. The Deputy Prime Minister informed Commissioner Gentiloni that the main policies, socio-economic development guidelines and reforms for the 2025-2028 period, as well as the parameters of the 2025 budget would be discussed with the political parties within the shortest possible deadline. Deputy Prime Minister Petkova said that the draft budget for 2025 would have a deficit of up to 3% of GDP. The Commissioner stressed that it was important not only to meet the convergence criteria, but also to preserve the country’s financial sustainability in the medium term, in view of its accession to the euro area.