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Description
The pandemic has faced economies with new realities. In July the European Commission voted a new Recovery and Resilience Facility (the Facility) with a budget of EUR 672.5 billion in loans and grants for reforms and investments.The Bulgarian government presented its first draft of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP) and held public discussions. As of January 2021, the government has still been taking note of the recommendations and has been expected to send the European Commission the final version for approval. Reforms do not play an important role in the current NRRP. We expect that the European Commission will return the NRRP for revision. A new government will be elected in 2021. The hope is that the government will adopt the NRRP and accelerate its implementation. However, it is also possible to use the financial resources of the Facility without carrying out the necessary reforms. The project aims at promoting the implementation of reforms that can be part of the final NRRP. The project involves analytical efforts and advocacy actions for reforms and will achieve the specific goal, namely studies carried out to support decision-making, formulation of public policies and debates. The analytical activities include 6 analyses and the advocacy actions include presentation of user-friendly information about the Facility and the NRRP, working with the media, preparation of articles and opinions, participation in discussions and organization of informal meetings with the administration. The expected outcomes are pressure for reforms and enhanced knowledge about the direction, mismatch and the results of the public reforms promised/implemented. The target results also include providing support to the stakeholders and holding an active and informed debate. Public institutions are the main target groups and the end users are the general public and businesses.
Summary of project results
At the beginning of the project, the proposed National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP) almost lacked a clear description of the reforms that the European Commission required and which was a prerequisite for the approval of the plan. The aim of the project is to monitor the approval and implementation of the NRRP and especially the implementation of the planned reforms
The project includes analytical efforts and proactive reform activities through research in support of decision-making, public policy formulation and debate.
Under the project the following deliverables were provided:
- 6 analyses on the NRRP, quoted 62 times in the media and made available to the public, the business and the institutions;
- 44 commentary articles, of which 10 are in English and 10 are related to the implementation of the plans in EU member countries. The articles were quoted 84 times in the media;
- 4 opinions addressed to different ministries and the respective ministers.
- 2 on-line events with 154 participants and 100 comments.
- Project experts took part in media (24 appearances), in debates, in working and expert groups with public institutions, NGO organizations, media, universities.
With its active work and constant alerting of the public about changes and important aspects of the plan, IME has become a platform for debate, a valuable partner for events and a source of knowledge on the topic. Currently, there is no other organization in Bulgaria that monitors so closely the work of the government and has such exclusive expert knowledge on the subject. Therefore, there is a big demand for the expertise of the IME in the field of NRRP by the media. The organization itself has become a creator of news on the topic as well. The project has a great impact on the end users - the general public, the business, civil organizations, media, as well as on public institutions as the main target group.