Bulgaria risks losing billions in recovery money as parliamentary chaos ensues

Noisy scandals and the aggressive behaviour of radical pro-Russian and populist parties prevented the Bulgarian parliament from mustering the majority needed to pass key legislation on which billions of euros in Recovery and Resilience Plan payments depend.

At midnight on Thursday, the Bulgarian parliament was trying to hold its last scheduled session before the general election, during which it was due to adopt the European Commission's long-awaited changes to the Climate Neutrality Roadmap.

This did not happen, however, as MPs from the pro-Russian radical party Revival and the populist party There is Such a People turned the parliament into a battlefield, forcibly occupying the rostrum and some of them ripping out the cables of the sound system in the chamber.

"This was the last opportunity to save more than two billion BGN under the Recovery Plan (€1 billion)," Delyan Dobrev, an MP from Bulgaria's largest party GERB (EPP) said after the incident.

Plamen Dimitrov, leader of the largest trade union organisation in Bulgaria, CITUB, which represents tens of thousands of workers in the coal sector, described the events in parliament as "madness". 

"Surely these people do not represent the interests of the workers in the coal mining sector and in the coal energy sector as a whole," Dimitrov said.

Bulgaria is the only EU country to have received only one payment under the Recovery Plan - €1.7 billion out of the €5.7 billion due to the country.

The money has been blocked because parliament has refused for two years to adopt the new Climate Neutrality Roadmap and the timetable for phasing out coal-fired power stations by 2038 and introducing renewable capacity in coal regions.

"Because of the non-adoption of the climate neutral roadmap, €266 million - 30% of the second payment under the Recovery Plan - have been lost," said the country’s caretaker Finance Minister Lyudmila Petkova.

Bulgaria's damage from the unaccepted reforms will first be felt by the miners and energy workers at the state-owned Maritsa East Mines and Maritsa East 2 Thermal Power Plant, which are facing financial collapse. 

For 2023, the mines have reported a loss of €70 million, while the TPP's profit is only €28 million.  Bulgaria is the only EU country without a REPowerEU plan, under which it expects to receive €480 million. The REPowerEU plan aims to reduce net greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030 and achieve EU climate neutrality by 2050.

If Bulgaria does not want to lose the green transition money, parliament could meet in an extraordinary session - despite the ongoing election campaign - to vote on the amendments and send them to the European Commission for adoption by 15-20 October at the latest, a check by Euractiv Bulgaria showed.

Without a climate neutrality plan, Bulgaria will remain dependent on carbon-intensive energy sources, increasing the cost of emissions and burdening local businesses and households with more expensive energy.

Because the parliament refused to approve the Climate Neutrality Plan, none of the three coal regions—Stara Zagora, Pernik, and Kyustendil—has received a single euro under the Territorial Plans for a Fair Transition, approved in December 2023.

Meanwhile, failure to comply with EU directives to reduce carbon emissions and achieve climate neutrality could lead to financial penalties. The EU imposes strict controls on the implementation of green policies, and Bulgaria could face serious legal consequences, including legal action before the EU Court of Justice. (Emiliya Milcheva, Krassen Nikolov | Euractiv.bg)