The Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works proposed on Tuesday reducing the country’s six planning regions to four and merging its two Level 1 statistical regions into one.
The proposed amendments to the Regional Development Act would bring national legislation into line with the new Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS) classification introduced by Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/195. The regulation is binding and will apply directly in all EU Member States from January 1, 2027.
Bulgaria currently has two NUTS 1 regions: one covering northern and southeastern Bulgaria, the other southwestern and south-central Bulgaria. They will merge into a single NUTS 1 region covering the entire country on January 1, 2027.
The Act would also reflect the reduction in NUTS 2 planning regions from six to four. The six current regions are Northwestern (the administrative regions of Vidin, Vratsa, Lovech, Montana and Pleven); North Central (Veliko Tarnovo, Gabrovo, Razgrad, Ruse and Silistra); Northeastern (Varna, Dobrich, Targovishte and Shumen); Southeastern (Burgas, Sliven, Stara Zagora and Yambol); South Central (Kardzhali, Pazardzhik, Plovdiv, Smolyan and Haskovo); and Southwestern (Blagoevgrad, Kyustendil, Pernik, Sofia City and Sofia Region). Statistical boundaries would change, but the boundaries of all 28 administrative regions and their municipalities would remain unchanged.
The new planning regions would be Northern (the administrative regions of Vidin, Montana, Vratsa, Lovech, Pleven, Gabrovo, Veliko Tarnovo, Targovishte, Ruse, Razgrad and Silistra); Eastern (Dobrich, Varna, Shumen, Burgas, Sliven and Yambol); and Southern (Sofia Region, Pernik, Kyustendil, Blagoevgrad, Pazardzhik, Smolyan, Plovdiv, Stara Zagora, Haskovo and Kardzhali). The fourth, the Capital Region, would cover Sofia Municipality.
The amendments would take effect on January 1, 2027.
Regional Development Ministry Proposes Reducing Bulgaria’s Planning Regions from Six to Four 2026 THE NEWS FROM BULGARIA – NEWS AGENCY 2009-2025 2026-09-29 16:22:12
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