The European Commission (EC) has approved an amendment to the Environment Program 2021-2027, creating a new priority – “Water Sustainability”.

The aim is to strengthen the impact of the program on sustainable water resources management, as well as to address depopulation in small settlements, including due to the lack of environmental infrastructure. The total financial resources for the implementation of the investments amount to 186.08 million euro in European funding.

The new priority “Water Sustainability” targets investments in water supply and sanitation infrastructure in agglomerations between 5000 and 10000 population equivalents, which were initially envisaged under the priority “Water”. The measures are related to the implementation of the requirements under Directive 91/271/EEC for the treatment of urban waste water, the reduction of anthropogenic pressure in the Black Sea through investments to achieve compliance on the territory of Sveti Vlas and the resort Elenite, as well as to support for the design of water supply and sanitation infrastructure in agglomerations between 5000 and 10000 population equivalents, as a basis for subsequent investments to achieve the priorities for water resource sustainability.

The approval of the new priority "Water Sustainability" enables the Program and beneficiaries to benefit from additional financial incentives from the European Commission, including an extension of the eligibility period for expenditure, cancellation of budgetary obligations, provision of 20% of the budget of the new priority as an extraordinary one-off pre-funding, as well as additional one-off financing in the amount of 1.5% of the contribution from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the Cohesion Fund.

The decision supports one of the new strategic priorities of the European Union in the field of cohesion policy, related to the sustainability of water resources, as well as the new specific objective introduced within the scope of the ERDF and the Cohesion Fund under Regulation (EU) 2021/1058.