New zoning of the country is being prepared because of the European funds, which our country will receive after 2020. The decision on which areas in which economic region to enter is important because of the cohesion funds, bTV points out.

"We are not talking about an administrative-territorial division. It is a purely technical procedure, dividing our country for the needs of Eurostat and the European Cohesion Funds, "Desislava Nikolova from the Institute for Market Economics said in the studio of      "This morning".

In her words, the big question is where the capital will fall because it is the most developed and has over-average European per capita income. This means less European funds. The debate on which city will be the center of the area is irrelevant, said the expert, pointing out that this function is purely administrative.

The first option proposed by the MRDPW is to be the capital city in the Southwest region, and the Northwest to extend from Vidin to Rousse. In addition, there will be Northeastern (with probable center Varna), Southeastern (Burgas), South Central (Plovdiv) areas. However, there is a risk that the southwestern settlements will be "unfortunate" because of the distortion of the statistics coming from Sofia.

The second option is entirely geographic and with larger areas - the Danube, the Black Sea, the Thracian-Rhodopean and the Southwest.

It is also suggested that Sofia should be taken out in a separate region and that all Western Bulgaria should be a statistical unit.

"Sofia is extremely important and we can not sacrifice it at the expense of the other regions," said Desislava Nikolova.
IME offers its option for zoning - with Western, Danube, Black Sea and Thracian-Rhodope regions. "We believe that this option is appropriate because the entire Western region will have such a per capita GDP that it will fall into the less developed regions. No one will be harmed, "she said.

The decision should be taken by the end of 2018.