Operational Programme "Development of Regions" 2021-2027 will have a budget of BGN 3 billion and will have three priority axes

The approved working draft of the new programme will be submitted to the European Commission for negotiations

The working draft of the new Operational Programme "Development of Regions" for the period 2021-2027 has been approved and will be submitted to the European Commission for negotiations.  Under the chairmanship of the Deputy Minister of Regional Development and Public Works and Head of the Managing Authority of the Operational Programme for Regional Development Denitsa Nikolova, an online meeting of the thematic working group for the development of the programme was held today, which supported the proposals in the terms of reference.

The future operational programme will have a budget of over BGN 3 billion.  It will contain three priority axes.

The first one will be for urban development and will focus 6% of the ERDF resource at national level for urban development projects in the ten largest municipalities.

The second axis is for integrated territorial development of regions, which includes 40 municipalities whose urban centres have a population of more than 15 000.  They will implement integrated territorial investments.  Complementarily, they will have access to funding from the other operational programmes, and especially the Rural Development Programme, thus achieving the implementation of mirror actions and complementarity of measures between urban and rural municipalities. "In parallel, municipalities will have to partner with each other in the implementation of the projects and in this way a much greater effect will be achieved for several localities and there will be practically no town or village without the possibility of EU funding," Nikolova stressed.

The third priority axis of the programme is for technical assistance, which will finance activities to increase administrative capacity at local and national level.

The funds under the first two axes will be allocated to projects for modernisation of educational infrastructure, development of industrial parks and energy efficiency.  The modernisation of urban transport, healthcare and the rehabilitation of road infrastructure remain among the priority areas.  Funding will also continue for the development of tourism and cultural infrastructure, urban renovation and social infrastructure.  "The economic development of the regions is a key priority.  That is why we are setting measures with added economic value," Deputy Minister Nikolova said.

A new feature of the programme is that the Ministry of Regional Development is taking over the implementation of the Territorial Just Transition Plans through the Just Transition Fund during the period 2021-2027, or the implementation of the objectives of the so-called Green Deal.  "This will enable the financing of measures to support economic transformation and energy transition in the regions, along with providing the accompanying needs for social measures," the Deputy Regional Minister noted.

Nikolova pointed out that in October the new regional development councils will start their activities, at the level of a broad format, to develop integrated concepts at the regional level.  In the future programming period, the councils will have their own position for selecting projects at regional level.

Preparation of guidelines for the Integrated Territorial Investment application is expected to start in October.