15/10/2021 (Agence Europe) – Bulgaria has formulated two proposed timetables for phasing out coal – 2038 and 2040 – with a preference for the latter date, announced the Bulgarian government on Thursday (14 October), on the eve of the submission of its ‘National Recovery and Resilience Plan’ (NRRP) to the European Commission. On a visit to Bulgaria on Friday, the Commission’s Executive Vice-President in charge of the Green Deal, Frans Timmermans, said that the institution must first examine the entire Bulgarian RRP before deciding on this deadline. He also said that the EU would help the country if it decided to invest in a second nuclear power plant in Belene, according to Euractiv. The civil society network Europe Beyond Coal has called the deadline “inadequate” and “late”, saying that it will delay investment in renewable energy and retraining workers. (DG)