Bulgaria gets approval for its revised Recovery Plan
Bulgaria has received approval from the European Commission for its revised Recovery and Resilience Plan. The plan has expanded slightly since the last revision and is now worth 6.17 billion euro, covering 50 reforms and 51 investments. The revised version was submitted a few months ago by the Zhelyazkov cabinet, as Brussels had required it to be ready more than a year ago.
According to official information, the number of stages and targets has been reduced from 321 to 259, and the number of payments under the plan - from nine to five. At present, it is not possible to see in detail which reforms and stages have been dropped, as this is not mentioned in the official documents.
The EU Council has four weeks to approve the Commission's assessment. However, Bulgaria has no time to spare-the deadline for the plans remains the end of next year, and even with the reduced payments and reforms, the country has only achieved about 80% of the overall targets and has four payments left. Whether the money will come this year depends largely on whether the budget will manage to achieve a smaller deficit.
Strong start to the year for the industrial space market in Bulgaria
The industrial property market in Bulgaria began the year with increased investor activity after a period of waiting. In the first five months alone, deals for more than 50,000 sq m of logistics and production space were concluded in Sofia, which is greater than the total volume for 2024. The market in Plovdiv is also reporting growth. Just two deals there are for a total of around 16,000 sq. m.
The data was presented at the Fifth International Conference on Industrial Space, organized by the BG Sklad platform in June. According to conference participants, market activity is not directly attributable to progress on Bulgaria's accession to Schengen, but rather to the stabilized domestic political environment. This predictability allows businesses to resume investments, including resuming work on frozen projects and planning to expand their activities.
30 km in 6 years: part of the new Mezdra-Botevgrad road was opened to traffic
The expressway south of the town of Mezdra is now open to traffic as of today (July 3), with the first 13 km receiving approval for use from the National Construction Control Directorate. They cost a total of over half a billion leva and have undergone a series of setbacks since 2019, when the construction contract was signed.
The remaining nearly 20 km between Mezdra and Botevgrad are not yet ready, but they will also be used, albeit with "temporary traffic organization." Roughly speaking, this means that about 30 km of the total 170 km from Vidin to Botevgrad will be in operation, albeit not in a fully completed state. Construction continues on the northernmost section of the route, but there is still a section in the middle-between Montana and Vratsa, including its bypass-for which there is not even a contract for technical design and construction yet.
Bulgaria gets approval for its revised Recovery Plan
Bulgaria has received approval from the European Commission for its revised Recovery and Resilience Plan. The plan has expanded slightly since the last revision and is now worth 6.17 billion euro, covering 50 reforms and 51 investments. The revised version was submitted a few months ago by the Zhelyazkov cabinet, as Brussels had required it to be ready more than a year ago.
