Deputy Minister Nikolova: Raising the standard of living in the Northeast region will be the focus of integrated territorial investments in the next seven years

Regional Development Councils will play a key role in allocating European funding

Raising the standard of living in the North East will be the main focus of project selection for funding in the new Operational Programme for Regional Development 2021-2027.

This was stated by Deputy Minister of Regional Development and Public Works Denitsa Nikolova at the opening of today's online meeting of the Regional Development Council for the Northeast Planning Region. At the meeting, Ivan Portnikh, the Mayor of Varna Municipality, was elected as the Chairman of the Council and Lyubomir Hristov, the Mayor of Shumen Municipality, as his deputy.

Deputy Minister Nikolova stressed the important role of the regional structure in the distribution of European funding related to the development of the North-Eastern region.  Council members will be directly involved in the pre-selection of projects that will have the opportunity to receive funds under the new programme.

"The main principle throughout the investment horizon until 2027 is cooperation between municipalities, NGOs and central administrations in order to select and finance the best project ideas that will have an economic impact on the entire territory of the Northeastern planning region", explained Deputy Minister Nikolova.  In addition to the expanded functions of the regional development councils, she also focused on the possibility of a new type of, more complex funding, so that resources could be made available for a territory not only from one operational programme, but also from the others in order to achieve a high economic impact.

The Regional Development Council will also be directly involved in giving the green light to project ideas that may also receive funding under cross-border cooperation.  It will also provide an opinion on the implementation of municipalities' integrated development plans.

The new regional policy model also envisages active citizen participation.  "We will seek as much as possible, in the course of structuring the project ideas and project concepts, the feedback for each investment we intend to implement", assured Deputy Minister Nikolova.  

She wished successful work of the Regional Council to find the right investments for the North-Eastern region, which can bring it to levels of development above the average for the European Union.

The Council includes representatives of the municipalities from the districts of Varna, Dobrich, Targovishte and Shumen, district governors, as well as representatives of ministries, business, NGOs, universities and scientific organizations.