Talks on the EU's next budget are hard, and Bulgaria backs a new rule to hand out money based on results, deputy prime minister Atanas Pekanov told the Sofia Economic Forum.

The seventh forum is being held at the Sofia Hotel Balkan. The Delphi Economic Forum organises it.

EU countries are discussing how big the next budget should be and what to spend it on. "We are debating with the other countries how big the budget should be and what it should be used for," Pekanov said.

Until now, EU funds went mainly on roads, buildings and other big projects. In 2021, the European Commission changed this with the NextGenerationEU fund, which tied the money to clear targets. Pekanov said the change has been useful.

Bulgaria has been one of the biggest recipients of EU funds for 20 years. The deputy prime minister said cohesion funds, the EU's traditional aid for bringing regions closer together, work well. They aim to help less developed regions catch up with the rest of the single market.

Pekanov listed what the money has paid for over the years: infrastructure, healthcare, social policy, education and other areas. This gave regions with less capacity a chance to catch up, he said.

He believes Europe invests less in artificial intelligence than it should, and needs to quickly commit much more than planned so far. He wants firms to use the technology in their daily work.

"We must encourage firms, and demand of them, to use more artificial intelligence than they do now," Pekanov said.