The day in 3 news: Bulgaria needs reforms for EU money; Denkov not sure about cabinet’s positions; Kozloduy NPP back at full capacity

The day in 3 news: Bulgaria needs reforms for EU money; Denkov not sure about cabinet’s positions; Kozloduy NPP back at full capacity

© Юлия Лазарова


No more EU funds until reforms are enacted

The first tranche of EU funds, namely 1.4 billion euros from the national recovery and resilience plan, arrived last week. However, Bulgaria will not be able to seek the next tranche of 724 million euros, until it passes 22 new bills through parliament and makes 66 overall administrative and legislative changes. This emerged after a briefing from Deputy Prime Minister for European funds management Atanas Pekanov.

He specified that only one of the necessary 22 laws had been adopted so far by the previous parliament. The current parliament, for example, did not even vote on the Whistleblower Protection Act - by which corruption and discrimination can be reported on every level - because the parties could not agree among themselves. "We're 2 years late for the adoption of this law, on account of which the country will be sanctioned," warned Pekanov.

PM nominee Denkov can choose cabinet members

WCC's nominee for Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov would have the ability to determine the composition of his cabinet himself, party co-chairman Kiril Petkov said.

Petkov cited Democratic Bulgaria's Bozhidar Bojanov, former minister of electronic government in the previous WCC-led cabinet, as a good candidate to join any future cabinet.

When asked if the chairmen of WCC see themselves as ministers, Petkov cited Assen Vassilev as the best choice to be minister of finance.He also spoke favorably of Dobromir Zakov, former Minister of Defense in his government.

Kozloduy works again and Bulgaria does not need to import electricity

The sixth unit of the Kozloduy NPP has now been operating normally since December 17, 2022.

The unit was shut down on December 10 following the discovery of a leak.. All the necessary activities to locate and eliminate the leak have been carried out, the plant's management have assured even though initial speculation had it that repairs might take weeks.

Earlier, on October 29, another technical problem occurred immediately after the scheduled maintenance was completed when the unit was shut down due to a cooling problem.

No more EU funds until reforms are enacted

The first tranche of EU funds, namely 1.4 billion euros from the national recovery and resilience plan, arrived last week. However, Bulgaria will not be able to seek the next tranche of 724 million euros, until it passes 22 new bills through parliament and makes 66 overall administrative and legislative changes. This emerged after a briefing from Deputy Prime Minister for European funds management Atanas Pekanov.

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