Bulgaria receives only part of the EU funds that are conditioned on reforms regarding the fight against corruption and the confiscation of illegal assets.
Brussels, November 11, 2025 – The European Commission paid on Tuesday, November 11, 438.6 million euros in grants to Bulgaria, representing a partial payment from the second tranche of the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), the centerpiece of NextGenerationEU.
The payment is partial because Bulgaria has not yet fulfilled an essential milestone related to combating corruption. The authorities in Sofia resubmitted the second payment request to the Commission on July 23, 2025, requesting a total amount of 653 million euros.
On October 3, the Commission only partially approved this request. The EU executive confirmed today that Bulgaria still needs to implement a remaining milestone to receive the rest of the funds: Milestone 218, which refers to the reform of the Commission for Anti-Corruption and the Confiscation of Illegally Acquired Assets. The Commission will review the payment of the remaining funds once Bulgaria addresses this unmet milestone.
This second payment request had a complex path. Bulgaria initially requested, in April 2025, a revision of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP) to include a REPowerEU chapter. For this reason, it withdrew the first version of the second payment request, which it resubmitted to Brussels only in July, after the revised plan was approved by the Council.
The approved part of the request covers 59 milestones and targets (28 reforms and 12 investments), including measures to improve education, strengthen justice and public procurement systems (with the protection of whistleblowers), liberalization of the electricity market, and development of energy storage capacities.
Bulgaria's total recovery and resilience plan is supported by 6.17 billion euros in grants. With today's payment, the total funds paid to Bulgaria reach 29.5% of the amount allocated to the plan, with 38.2% of the total milestones and targets being met.
ȘTIRI PE ACELEAȘI SUBIECTE
