In this guest lecture, Mr Atanas Pekanov (economist at the Austrian Institute of Economic Research and former Deputy Prime Minister for EU Funds of the Republic of Bulgaria) will share his experience from his time in government. In particular, he will discuss the challenges in implementing the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) in the context of Bulgaria’s economic and political landscape, as well as the economic prospects of Bulgaria in the EU more broadly.
All are welcome to attend. Please register indicating if you will participate online or in presence (on a first come, first serve basis).
Atanas Pekanov is an economist at the Austrian Institute of Economic Research (WIFO) since 2017. He has served four times as the Deputy Prime Minister for EU Funds of the Republic of Bulgaria in the technic governments between May 2021 - Dec 2021 and August 2022 - May 2023. In this role, he was in charge of EU Funding and the National Recovery and Resilience Plan and co-coordinated the process of euro adoption in Bulgaria among other key topics. His main research interests as an economist are monetary and fiscal policy, EMU architecture, cohesion policy. He previously worked at the European Central Bank and was twice a scholar to the Bulgarian National Bank (2015, 2019). He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the Vienna University of Economics and Business and an M.Sc. in Economic Policy from University College London. In 2019, Atanas won a Fulbright Scholarship and attended the Economics Department of Harvard University for the academic 2019/2020. He is currently also a lecturer and PhD candidate at the Vienna University of Economics and Business.