Bulgaria, together with the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, will seek funding from the European Commission (EC) for electromobility projects in the next programming period, Nino Dimov, Minister of Environment and Water, announced at the opening of the National Trust Ecofund Annual Event (NTEF), which took place at the Ministry of Environment and Water.

"The project of electromobility should not be limited to urban transport. I have talks with colleagues from other Central and Eastern European countries, especially with the Visegrad countries. We will look for a way to mobilize more financial resources from the EC to stimulate not only urban transport but also infrastructure building - green corridors linking not only from one city to another  but also from one city to another country so that it can be reached by electric motor from Munich to Plovdiv or traveling from Latvia to Greece, "explained Dimov.

In his words, the conversations are quite encouraging.

"We will see in the new financial period how there will be incentives to build corridors, infrastructure for charging electric vehicles, further development of urban transport, and why not support households", added the minister.

The chairman of the NTEF Managing Board Penka Mollova-Smolenovova announced that the fund is 24 years old and has made a significant contribution to a cleaner environment.

"New and original ideas for institutional and financial mechanisms for the implementation of environmental policies were validated. Since 2015, the NTEF has been the only source of a grant to promote the use of electric vehicles. The NTEF administers the first national initiative to promote the use of electric vehicles, which contributes to the implementation of priority environmental policies - improving the quality of the ambient air, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and noise pollution levels'', said Penka Mollova.

The NTEF reported that in 2018 it was working on the implementation of 58 energy efficiency projects with 78 sites. The subsidy paid amounts to more than BGN 4.8 million.

During the event, a seminar on "Electromobility and eco-efficiency" was held, which took into account the progress of the NTEF Electric Vehicle Promotion Scheme as well as up-to-date information on the environmental benefits and the efficiency of electric vehicles in environmental protection .

At the forum Veselin Grozdanov, a member of the Board of the Green Transport Cluster, identified electromobility as the challenge of the 21st century.

Prof. Dr. Durhan Saliev, from the Technical University of Sofia, recommended that the state increase the investment in infrastructure for charging electric vehicles.