The European Commission has decided to temporarily withhold EUR 152,896,496 from the third payment under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan of Bulgaria, diplomatic sources told BNR. The third payment requested by Bulgaria is EUR 1,618,592,629.
The European Commission's assessment is that our country has not satisfactorily implemented two key stages of the reforms set out in the national plan.
The first is for the establishment and operation of the Anti-Corruption Commission. The other is for the entry into force of legal acts related to criminal proceedings and the accountability and criminal liability of the Prosecutor General.
On December 1, the Commission informed Bulgaria of its assessment. The authorities in Sofia were informed that they had one month to submit their observations to Brussels. On December 3, the Bulgarian side informed the European Commission that it had none.
In November, the EC temporarily suspended the payment of EUR 214.5 million under the second payment from the Bulgarian national plan, amounting to a total of EUR 653 million. The reason was again the failure to implement a key stage related to the anti-corruption commission. However, it is different from the one for which Brussels is now again withholding part of the money for our country.
The payment of the currently withheld EUR 152 million will only become a fact when Bulgaria takes the necessary measures for the satisfactory implementation of the two key stages. Our country has six months to do so.
At the same time, Bulgaria may submit observations on today's decision within two months.