Bulgaria will not accept any further cuts to cohesion policy funding

Bulgaria will not accept any further cuts to cohesion policy funding in the EU’s next multiannual budget, Deputy Prime Minister Atanas Pekanov told Bulgarian journalists in Brussels. He took part in the Annual EU Budget Conference 2026 – Boost Europe: Leveraging the EU Budget for strategic priorities, a meeting dedicated to the 2028–2034 EU budget.

Given the geopolitical situation and the changing world, Europe needs a larger budget, and last year the European Commission made such a proposal, Atanas Pekanov noted. “Our position in the negotiations in the coming months will be that the role of cohesion policy must be preserved, and no further cuts will be accepted”, Atanas Pekanov said.

He added that 16 EU member states are part of the “Friends of Cohesion” group and will have a clear stance on the issue, BNR correspondent in Brussels Angelina Piskova reported.

Edited by Ivo Ivanov

Translated by Kostadin Atanasov