Topical Information

NAMRB and NAMRB Active held the 15th National Meeting of Municipal Programme and Project Experts from 8–10 December 2025.

The forum brought together more than 180 participants from municipalities—mayors, deputy mayors, directors of directorates and municipal experts responsible for the preparation and implementation of projects financed by the EU and other external sources. Representatives of central government also took part, including the Central Coordination Unit at the Council of Ministers Administration, FLAG Fund, the Fund Manager of Financial Instruments in Bulgaria, Managing and National Partner Authorities of EU-funded Programmes and the Strategic Plan for Agricultural and Rural Development, structures responsible for monitoring and reporting under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP), the State Fund “Agriculture” and others.

The event opened with a plenary session on 8 December dedicated to the progress in the implementation of EU-funded Programmes for 2021–2027 and the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP). Another highlight was the next EU Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) 2028–2034.

The forum was opened by NAMRB Executive Director Silvia Georgieva, who offered a brief retrospective of the event since its launch in 2010. The purpose of the Association and NAMRB Active has been to bring together the experts who “drive” EU funds in municipalities with the Managing Authorities of the Programmes. The task—still relevant today—is to conduct an honest and professional discussion on how European instruments work at local level and whether they achieve their main goal: improving citizens’ quality of life.

Georgieva emphasised that operational programmes are no longer the only, but just one of several funding sources for municipal policies, now joined by the NRRP and the large-scale Municipal Investment Programme. Upcoming instruments include the Social Climate Plan and the next MFF, which will reshape the landscape of European funding.

“In such an environment, your role cannot be limited to preparing and implementing projects under a given programme. You are no longer simply ‘EU experts,’ but architects of municipal policies and designers of the municipality’s investment portfolio. Your main role is to identify which funding source is most appropriate for each policy,” Georgieva said. “It is time to stop participating in programmes and projects on the ‘Olympic principle,’ because applying at all costs is becoming very expensive,” she added.

A review of the implementation of shared-management EU-funded Programmes mid-way through the programming period shows good contracting but delays in payments. Particularly dramatic are the delays in NRRP payments, creating significant pressure on municipal budgets, the need for bridge financing for advances to contractors, and risks of annexes and extensions. Investments must be pre-financed from the 2026 municipal budgets, which are not yet adopted. Capital expenditure will likely again follow the rule of one-twelfth of the previous year’s budget. Implementation of municipal projects under the Human Resources Development Programme and the Food and Basic Material Assistance Programme is progressing very well. The late-starting Agricultural Plan is also catching up, with both advance and interim payments already made. Both the Ministry of Agriculture and municipalities note that the approach of guaranteed municipal budgets is extremely effective and ensures access to resources based on clear and objective criteria, Georgieva added.

The ITI approach is progressing slowly, despite being strategically appropriate but evidently difficult to implement.

“We are in a ‘sprint to the finish’ under the NRRP. We practically have less than a year until the eligibility deadline of 30 August 2026 to implement what was delayed for three years at central level,” Georgieva told participants. The challenges identified include significant delays in actual payments and the administrative processing of reporting documents, 15-month delays in contract signing, legal uncertainty regarding conditional public procurement, slow preliminary control by the Public Procurement Agency for major contracts, unrealistic verification and payment deadlines, and varying practices and capacities within monitoring and reporting structures. The issue of delayed preliminary control has no easy solution because it is tied to an NRRP indicator. To speed up processes, Managing Authority staff are being temporarily reassigned, and NAMRB has proposed legislative amendments raising the threshold for preliminary control to EUR 7.5 million.

Georgieva also addressed the Municipal Investment Programme—funded entirely from the state budget under Art. 107 of the 2024 State Budget Act and Art. 113 of the 2025 State Budget Act—which is the largest targeted investment initiative for roads, water and sewerage, urban development and other infrastructure nationwide, with a deadline of 30 June 2027. Due to its lower administrative burden, the Programme is often preferred over EU funding.

Regarding the new MFF 2028–2034, Georgieva noted that the budget architecture is being completely redesigned. Priorities include defence, security and EU competitiveness. A huge single fund is proposed, combining existing instruments into a “European Fund for Economic, Territorial, Social, Rural and Maritime Prosperity and Security”—a “superfund” implemented through a single national Plan for National and Regional Partnership. A controversial aspect is the broad discretion given to national governments in setting priorities and to the European Commission in approving them. Investments will depend on reforms, with non-compliance leading to payment suspensions; the automatic decommitment rule becomes n+10 months. The new framework also creates opportunities for more flexible planning, better integration of territorial and sectoral policies, and faster responses to crises. Georgieva stressed that municipalities must be inside the debate, not catching up later. “Now is the time to shape municipal positions and insist that the National Plan be developed through genuine partnership and territorial thinking—not just ‘by sectors’,” she said. She also highlighted the need to prepare for the new logic of “payment for results.” “We must think about capacity and pre-financing. With smaller advances and shorter deadlines, we will need to rely more on financial instruments, loans and public–private partnerships—and integrate them into municipal financial planning. FLAG is our most reliable partner in this challenge,” she noted.

The new Social Climate Plan includes measures for building renovation, transport investments and direct support. It will not provide grants for all measures; municipalities will have to ensure sustainability of investments through their budgets. Technical assistance for municipalities is being negotiated as a percentage of each project.

“The ‘EU expert’ is becoming a ‘planning and investment expert’.” The years 2026 and 2027 will place unprecedented financial, administrative and technical pressure on municipalities. “Your task is to help mayors build a realistic investment schedule, not just a list of projects,” Georgieva said.

She concluded by calling on experts to engage actively in designing municipal policies—in strategies, development plans, budget debates—and to propose solutions. “I believe that with the capacity in this room, with your experience, and with the partnership between NAMRB, municipalities and national institutions, we can not only catch up but be among those setting the direction.”