Bulgaria - AI Coordinated Plan (2021)

Overview

The Coordinated Plan on Artificial Intelligence (2021 review) is an EU-level strategic framework published on 21 April 2021 that updates the 2018 Plan and defines coordinated actions for the European Commission and Member States to accelerate investments, align national policies and promote a human-centric approach to AI. The Plan is not a binding regulation; rather it sets priorities, recommended joint actions and monitoring arrangements. It is intentionally complementary to the Commission’s concurrent legislative proposal for an AI regulatory framework (the AI Act) and to related Commission communications and research outputs such as AI Watch. For Member States — including Bulgaria — the Plan functions as a roadmap to align national strategies, unlock funding, and organise shared testing facilities, data spaces and skills development programmes in support of trustworthy AI.

Definitions

The Plan uses several working definitions and policy concepts rather than prescriptive legal definitions: "AI" is understood broadly to encompass machine learning, logic- and knowledge-based systems, and other techniques enabling inference and autonomous behaviour. The document distinguishes enabling conditions (skills, computing, data), excellence (from research to market), trustworthiness (ethics, safety, fundamental rights) and strategic leadership in sectors. The Plan does not create new legal definitions with binding effect; legal definitions are established or refined in EU legislation such as the AI Act and by sectoral EU law (e.g. data protection under the GDPR).

Governance and Institutional Framework

The Plan outlines a multi-level governance approach: the European Commission (notably DG CONNECT and the Commission services supporting AI policy), the Joint Research Centre and AI Watch coordinate EU-level monitoring and technical assistance; Member States establish or update national coordinating authorities and contact points to implement national actions. The Plan recommends strengthened cooperation mechanisms, shared roadmaps and common indicators for progress. It explicitly anticipates close alignment with the legislative governance instruments later proposed in the AI Act (for example, the creation of an AI Office and a European Artificial Intelligence Board). For implementation support and monitoring the Plan points to resources and networks such as the AI Watch service run by the Joint Research Centre.

Key Focus Areas

The Plan’s actions are grouped around a set of interlinked priorities: (1) enabling conditions — develop skills and talent pipelines, scale computing capacities and common data spaces, and promote open research; (2) from lab to market — support excellence networks, testing and experimentation facilities, and scale-up financing for start-ups and SMEs; (3) trust and uptake — mainstream ethical guidelines and risk assessment practices, strengthen safety, transparency and accountability; (4) sectoral leadership — target high-impact sectors (healthcare, energy, mobility, agriculture, public services) for strategic investments, interoperability and sectoral testbeds; and (5) international cooperation — align standards and engage in multilateral fora. The Plan recommends concrete joint actions such as establishing AI testing infrastructures, harmonising approaches to conformity assessment, promoting public procurement of AI, and creating national support services for SMEs and public administrations. The Plan emphasizes synergy with the EU’s research and funding instruments (Horizon Europe, Digital Europe, InvestEU, Recovery and Resilience Facility) to mobilize finance at scale.

Implementation Framework

Implementation is organised as coordinated actions between the Commission and Member States, including the sharing of national roadmaps and investment plans; pooling and mobilisation of EU funds; setting up shared testing and validation facilities; fostering dedicated skills programmes and talent mobility; and encouraging common technical and ethical standards. The Plan proposes use of platforms (knowledge sharing, registries) and promotes public procurement and innovation-friendly regulation. Member States are invited to adapt national plans and embed the Plan’s joint actions into national strategies, ensuring that funds (national and EU) are channelled to the priority measures. Implementation relies on both EU-level coordination and national administrative arrangements, with periodic reporting and peer review to foster convergence.

Monitoring and Evaluation

The Plan sets out monitoring via EU-level tools (AI Watch, Joint Research Centre) and through voluntary exchange of information between Member States and the Commission. It encourages common indicators (investment volumes, talent metrics, number of testing facilities, public procurement with AI criteria, uptake by SMEs) and periodic reporting to track progress. The Plan recommends creating living inventories of national instruments, consolidated reporting channels and thematic peer-learning events. While the Plan itself imposes no sanctions, monitoring helps identify gaps and informs the design of binding measures (such as those later adopted under the AI Act).

Penalties, Liability, and Appeals

As a non-binding coordination instrument, the Plan does not itself create penalties or an enforcement regime. Instead it recommends that Member States prepare for and align with the binding obligations and enforcement mechanisms foreseen in dedicated EU legislation (notably the AI Act) and existing regulatory frameworks (product safety, data protection, consumer law). For matters of liability and redress the Plan points to the need for clarity at the EU level and to complement existing civil liability rules; binding liability and penalties are the remit of subsequent legislation rather than the Coordinated Plan itself.

Relationship to Other Instruments

The Plan is explicitly complementary to existing EU instruments: it builds on the 2018 Coordinated Plan, the 2020 White Paper and the Commission’s legislative proposal for an AI Regulation. It also interoperates with sectoral EU law (GDPR, product safety rules, medical devices, transport and financial services rules) and funding programmes such as Horizon Europe, Digital Europe and the Recovery and Resilience Facility. Member States are encouraged to synchronise national measures with these instruments to avoid fragmentation and to facilitate single-market uptake.

International Alignment

The Plan underlines the EU’s intention to shape global standards and norms for trustworthy AI. It promotes international cooperation on standards, research collaboration, interoperability and trade; it calls for engagement in multilateral fora to align approaches to safety, ethics and governance while preserving EU values and fundamental rights. The Plan advocates for international dialogue on testing facilities, data governance and export controls where relevant, in order to protect both innovation and values.

Implementation Timeline

Milestone	Timing / Example Date
Publication of the 2021 Coordinated Plan	2021-04-21
Member States update/align national strategies (recommended)	2021-2023 (ongoing)
Set up joint testing facilities & data spaces (priority)	2021-2024 (phased)
Monitoring/reporting via AI Watch	Annual / as agreed

Compliance Checklist

Action	Who
Adopt/align national AI strategy with Plan actions	Member State government / national ministries
Designate national coordinating body or contact point	Member State authorities
Mobilise funds (EU + national) for testing & scale-up	Ministries of Finance / Innovation
Establish testbeds, sandboxes and registries	Research centres, public agencies
Integrate ethics and rights-based assessments into procurement	Public procurers, contracting authorities

Sources and References

Source	Type
Coordinated Plan on Artificial Intelligence (2021 review) — European Commission	Primary Source
Coordinated Plan on Artificial Intelligence (printable PDF)	Primary Source
AI Watch — National strategies on Artificial Intelligence (2021 edition)	Primary Source / Technical Support
Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 (Artificial Intelligence Act) — EUR-Lex	Primary Source (related legislation)