The European Commission’s plan for investments and growth worth over 300 billion euros is extremely ambitious and timely. This is what President Rosen Plevneliev said in a joint statement after the meeting he held with Kristalina Georgieva, Vice-president of the European Commission and Budget and Human Resources Commissioner. The goal of the plan is to mobilize a considerable resource such as extra public and private investments in the EU and is a decisive step towards reviving the European economy, improving the investment environment and creating new jobs.
The Head of State said that projects in the spheres of energy efficiency, energy diversification, transport and energy infrastructure, and digital economy may be funded through the mechanisms of the public-private partnership and under the Fund for Strategic Investments proposed by the European Commission. “These are sectors in which the public funds may attract further private capital,” the President emphasized and gave as an example the large-scale program for energy efficiency, which will create thousands of jobs in the whole country.
In President Rosen Plevneliev’s view, although Bulgaria has a lot of strategic projects of European significance, appropriate tools for financing them through public funds are still unavailable. “Therefore the creation of a European Fund for Strategic Investments is an extremely timely initiative, which will be of key importance not only for the European, but also for the Bulgarian economy,” Rosen Plevneliev said.
The fund is expected to take the risk of financing vital strategic infrastructure projects, also by using the expertise of the European Investment Bank. At the same time the fund will rely on removing the bureaucratic obstacles and ensuring a private resource which will reinforce the effects of state financing, the Head of State made it clear.
The President highlighted the construction of a third and fourth bridge over the Danube river connecting Bulgaria and Romania, the high-speed road between Russe and Svilengrad as well as some gas inter-connectors with neighboring countries as strategic projects which can possibly be funded.
The President called on for promptly presenting projects to the European Commission which should be in line with the Bulgaria’s strategic priorities. “We should get down to work because we still have a lot to do and it is high time we effectively implemented the mechanisms of the European Commission,” Rosen Plevneliev further said.
The Investment Plan for Europe provides a chance above all for countries such as Bulgaria, where “money is sleeping in the banks.” “We should wake it up,” the Vice-president of the European Commission Kristalina Georgieva said. The Strategic Investments Fund will give guarantees to the investors, who are concerned about the high risk of implementing delayed projects, which however may have a potential. These projects may involve roads, bridges, energy efficiency projects, digital economy. “We are speaking about money, projects and removing the obstacles to their implementation that investors encounter,” the Vice-president of the European Commission recapitulated.
Commissioner Kristalina Georgieva voiced her gratitude for being nominated for a second mandate in the European Commission by the caretaker government appointed by President Rosen Plevneliev.