Sofia, April 9 (BTA) - Deputy Prime Minister Tomislav Donchev
said on Friday that he is not going to submit for approval by
the government the National Recovery and Resilience Plan and
will instead leave this to the next cabinet. Donchev was
speaking at a roundtable on the future of Bulgaria organized by
a coalition called For a Green Restart.

Bulgaria held parliamentary elections on April 4 and the
formation of a new government is pending.

Donchev said that a revision of the draft plan will not need to
be made as the deadline for submitting the final plan to the
European Commission (EC) is the end of April. He said that work
is in progress on version 3.0 of the plan, which is almost
technically ready with an initial impact assessment and has
been, to a large extent, coordinated and agreed with the EC.

"I have the legal ground to submit a motion to the government to
 approve this version of the plan, after which the document can
be officially sent to the EC. However, I did not do so because I
 do not believe it will be decent," Donchev said, adding that
this is a plan that will be implemented in the next five years
so that it is not right for an outgoing cabinet to submit it,
although the plan has been drawn up after broad public
consultations.

Donchev said that his GERB party will leave it to the next
cabinet to revise the document or prepare a new plan, if so it
deems fit.

Donchev said he has spoken with EC officials who are ready to
show understanding and extend the deadline for submission so
that the next cabinet can submit a plan as it deems fit. The
Deputy PM said that he personally believes that the plan has the
 necessary balance for the needs of all sectors, the necessary
mix of policies underpinning the ambitious goals Bulgaria has
set itself on a national and European level.

The positions about the transformation of the Bulgarian economy
and society of the four organizations members in the For a Green
 Restart coalition: MOVE.BG, WWF, Greenpeace, and the Circular
Economy Institute, were presented at the roundtable, which was
attended by leading political figures from GERB, the Bulgarian
Socialist Party, the Movement for Rights and Freedoms, and
Democratic Bulgaria.

The coalition presented a "Textbook on Bulgaria's Future
History" which sets out ideas about the development of this
country until 2050 and concrete suggestions for transformation
of the economy and society. The coalition stressed the need for
an urgent revision of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan.
 NV/ZH