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Bulgaria seeks €6.6bn in EU Covid-recovery funding

Country’s submission of plans includes research and climate spending, and leaves just Dutch plan outstanding

Bulgaria has requested €6.6 billion in grants from the EU’s Covid-recovery fund, with some of the money earmarked for improving research and innovation in the country.

On 15 October, the European Commission announced it had received a proposal from the Bulgarian government for the spending of the cash. The Commission will now assess whether the country’s proposals meet goals such as spending 37 per cent of its money on climate change-related projects.

The plan sets out Bulgaria’s use of its share of the EU Recovery and Resilience Facility, which is itself part of the €800bn NextGenerationEU scheme. 

Like most nations, Bulgaria will be spending some of its RRF money on research. The Commission said the plan sets aside money for decarbonisation, research and innovation, and healthcare.

To date, the Commission has approved 22 plans, with just the Swedish, Polish and Hungarian–and now the Bulgarian–proposals awaiting sign off.

One laggard member state is the Netherlands, which has yet to submit a plan.