On 16 April, Bulgaria submitted a request to the European Commission to amend its Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP) in accordance with Article 21 of the Recovery and Resilience Mechanism (RRM) Regulation, as well as to add a chapter on REPowerEU - the European plan to reduce its dependence on Russian fossil fuels and accelerate the ecological transition, the Commission announced. Bulgaria's proposed REPowerEU chapter consists of three new reforms and four investments.
The proposed reforms aim to strengthen the framework for managing energy poverty and prepare for the liberalisation of the retail market, to increase the transparency of the connection procedures for new renewable energy and storage capacities, to improve the functioning of the balancing energy market and to facilitate the introduction of demand response measures. The proposal includes investments in areas such as the development of an information system to identify energy poor and vulnerable households, the promotion of the use of renewable energy and electric vehicles in the provision of social services, and the deployment of additional electricity storage by increasing existing investment (RESTORE).
Bulgaria also proposes to remove or modify several measures from the plan, while maintaining the country's intention to benefit from the funds allocated to it under the Recovery and Resilience Facility. The proposed changes relate to objective circumstances that have an impact on the possibility of implementing the relevant measures as initially envisaged.
As some of the proposed changes concern unresolved issues in the second payment request, on 17 April Bulgaria requested, with the Commission's agreement, that the payment request be withdrawn with a view to resubmitting it after the approval of the amended plan.
The Commission will now continue to work with the Bulgarian authorities on the revision of the plan and will assess whether the amended plan still meets the assessment criteria in the MFF Regulation. If the Commission's assessment is positive, it will make a proposal for an amended Council Implementing Decision to reflect the changes in Bulgaria's plan. Member States will then have up to four weeks to approve the Commission's assessment.
Bulgaria's Recovery and Resilience Plan includes a wide range of investment and reform measures. The plan is financed with 5.69 billion euros in grants.