Accelerated start of the regional development and fair transition program

The Deputy Minister of Regional Development and Public Works Yura Vitanova announced that to date, 117 contracts have been signed for a total amount of the grant aid a little over 177 million leva under Priority 4 "Fair Transition" of the "Regional Development" Program 2021-2027. She expressed hope that by the time of the meeting of the Monitoring Committee of the program in July, all 129 approved contracts for nearly 192.5 million leva under the procedure for energy renovation of multi-family residential buildings will be concluded.

Vitanova stressed that the fair transition not only gives the opportunity to the municipalities and citizens in the affected regions to receive additional European funding, but also obliges them to implement in the most effective and successful way all important projects for the green transformation in the regions and to maintain the engagement of the local communities. So far, nearly 1960 project proposals have been submitted under the procedure "Diversification and adaptation of small and medium-sized enterprises to the economic transition", which shows the great interest in the program and the active attitude of the stakeholders at the local level.

The region of Stara Zagora has submitted the most project proposals - 1392, which is almost four times more than those received from the other regions. The Deputy Regional Minister called on those present to continue the active cooperation and dialogue in order to further encourage the interest of the local communities in the program. The goal is to support the effective implementation of the transition processes towards green energy and environmental protection at the local level, which is a huge challenge, as the transformation in the regions must be done in the fairest way for citizens, businesses and stakeholders.