EU praises Bulgaria progress but sets August deadline for reform-linked aid

BRUSSELS, May 28 (Reuters) – The European Commission praised Bulgaria’s progress in establishing an independent anti-corruption office and said on Thursday the country had to keep up its reform momentum to get the remainder of EU funds from the post-pandemic recovery fund by the end-August deadline.

Under the EU’s recovery scheme, Bulgaria was to receive €6.2 billion ($7.2 billion) in grants, but the money is linked to a series of reforms, including the establishment of the anti-corruption office and shifting its energy production to renewable sources. 

Sofia has already received €3.3 billion of the EU funds, but progress on meeting the milestones and targets for the rest was difficult because in the last three years the country had five parliamentary elections.

“We all know that there is the deadline in August 2026. So, the goal is to unlock resources by then. For this, we must maintain momentum on reforms,” European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen said after talks with Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev.

“I very much welcome that the legislative process is already well under way. Your government is therefore delivering on this significant milestone,” she said, noting Bulgaria could get €370 million from the EU once the reform was complete.

She also said the strengthening of the profitable part of the state-owned Bulgarian Energy Holding, in particular the part that is producing clean energy, would be a major step for the improvement of the Bulgarian energy system. 

“In total, there are 1.2 billion euros in the plan for clean energy investments in Bulgaria,” she said.

Apart from the recovery fund, the EU was ready to disburse to Bulgaria €3.2 billion in cheap loans under its SAFE scheme aimed to bolster defence capabilities of EU countries, especially those on the bloc’s eastern flank, that would be exposed to an attack from Russia.

“We will support Bulgaria with more than €3.2 billion under SAFE as we just discussed. And we are ready to sign our loan agreement with Bulgaria at any time,” von der Leyen said.($1 = 0.8583 euros)

(Reporting by Jan StrupczewskiEditing by Keith Weir)