The grants provided by the European Union are awarded by the different Directorates-General (Directorates) of the European Commission and by the national and regional authorities of the Member States for the implementation of projects or activities in relation to EU policies. Since Bulgaria is a Member State of the European Union, companies willing to operate in the country can apply for a grant. The beneficiaries are mainly private or public organizations that need to possess sufficient capacity to implement the projects.

The list of grants announced by the European Union is available at the site of the Commission and can be browsed by specific field of interest. The Departments of the Commission (Directorates-General) managing the grant programmes publish their annual work plans with broad outlines of grants on their websites before 31 March of each year. Afterwards, they publish calls for proposals inviting candidates to present a proposal for action that corresponds to the objectives pursued and fulfils the required conditions until a certain deadline. All applications are examined and evaluated on the basis of criteria that have been defined in the calls for proposals, thus ensuring equal treatment, and candidates are individually informed of the final decision concerning their proposal. The national authorities in Bulgaria publish their annual indicative programmes by 31 January of each year. The lists are available at their respective sites.

See EU Funds in Bulgaria table for more information about the Operational Programmes in Bulgaria.

Each area in which grants are allocated has specific conditions for requesting a grant, but there are some basic principles. The grants never provide 100% financing because they are a form of complementary funding. Usually only one grant can be given for a certain task in order to avoid double financing. While co-financing of the same project by different EU funds is either prohibited or not practically feasible, it is possible to combine the resources of different funds in a complementary way. This means using different funds for different actions, which are carried out in a related or consecutive manner. The grants’ purpose is not to bring profit to their beneficiaries but rather to provide a given project with the necessary financing to get realized and to benefit society. Furthermore, they cannot be awarded retroactively for already completed work.