Bulgaria officially launched its communication campaign on 2014–2020 Cohesion policy achievements

EU cohesion policy means “trust, progress and future” for Bulgaria, the motto chosen for the campaign. Since 2007, Cohesion policy allowed for economic progress and a most secure future for the next generations, and this needs to be made visible.

“Europe for us is a common home, shared values and culture, security and a guarantee of prosperity - social and economic. However, we must know that Europe is not a given, but a responsibility that we must defend in solidarity and daily. The transformation of our country became possible thanks to the efforts of the whole society, but also with the invaluable support of EU's Cohesion Policy.”, said Deputy Minister Martin Danovski.

During the launch event in Plovdiv a number of key achievements of Cohesion policy in Bulgaria since 2007 have been presented:

• guaranteed employment for almost 89,000 inactive and unemployed persons over 30 years old and nearly 115,000 supported unemployed and inactive youth up to 29 years old;
• almost 75,000 children included in measures for deinstitutionalization, prevention and early childhood development support;
• over 820 renovated sheltered housing;
• over 205,000 disadvantaged citizens gained access to improved social services;
• over 1,100 renovated schools across the country, resulting in over half a million pupils and youth learning in an improved educational environment;
• over 22,000 completed pupils practices; 16 built high-tech scientific complexes, in which almost 400 new researchers have been attracted;
• over 550 implemented projects for the implementation and development of innovation in enterprises;
• over 2,600 enterprises with expanded production capacity;
• over 29,000 businesses supported to overcome the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic;
• large-scale digitization of public services provided to citizens and businesses, supporting the digitization of just over 4,000 administrative services;
• 79 renovated emergency medical centers;
• over 100 modernized cultural sites;
• nearly 5 million square meters of renovated green areas in cities;
• 1,600 hectares of new forests planted; household waste reduced by more than 700 thousand tons of annual landfilled;
• improved water and sanitation infrastructure, which is used by about 3.6 million people;
• 375 km of renovated railway lines and 8 renovated railways stations;
• 380 km of newly built and over 1,700 km of renovated roads;
• over 450 km of repaired public transport lines in Bulgarian cities;
• over 640 environmentally friendly vehicles delivered;
• extended by 33 km. metro lines network of the Sofia metro and 32 built metro stations.