EC: RRP payment depends on the fulfilment Anti-Corruption Commission conditions

"We have sent Bulgaria a letter detailing the amount in question, which will not be paid unless the condition relating to the Anti-Corruption Commission is met. There is a one-month deadline for a response. If we then determine that this condition has not been met, payment will be withheld for a further six months," said the EC spokesperson Maciej Berestecki.

Berestecki dismissed any links between a Renew Europe letter to the European Commission regarding the arrest of Varna Mayor Blagomir Kotsev, who is accused of being involved in a bribery scheme, and the assessment of Recovery Plan funds. They said the two cases were entirely unrelated.