ProInfo Continues Civic Monitoring of Bulgaria’s Digital Decade

A national roadmap can set ambitious targets. The real test is what happens afterwards: whether measures are implemented, whether progress can be demonstrated, and whether identified weaknesses lead to improvements. This is the focus of ProInfo Foundation’s continued civic monitoring of Bulgaria’s national Roadmap contributing to the EU Digital Decade Strategy 2030. The monitoring is funded and coordinated by the European Citizen Action Service (ECAS) as part of a wider European civic monitoring effort. Using a common methodology across participating EU countries makes it possible not only to examine implementation nationally, but also to contribute comparable evidence to a broader European picture of progress towards the Digital Decade objectives.

Building on the first monitoring cycle

In 2025, ProInfo completed its first comprehensive civic monitoring of Bulgaria’s Roadmap, covering its four main areas: digital skills, digital infrastructure, digitalisation of businesses, and digital public services. The report examined the Roadmap measure by measure, looking beyond formal commitments to assess implementation, available evidence, transparency, stakeholder participation, and the extent to which Bulgaria’s digital transformation is delivering practical results. The monitoring identified progress, but also important weaknesses: uneven implementation, insufficient publicly available information on some measures, gaps in coordination and stakeholder involvement, and areas where stronger follow-up was needed. The report was therefore not intended to be the end of the process.

Taking monitoring findings to the institutions

An important part of ProInfo’s approach is to connect independent monitoring with the institutions responsible for implementation. Following the 2025 monitoring, ProInfo communicated findings and recommendations to the relevant national authorities and continued direct engagement with policymakers and implementing institutions. This included formal letters to responsible ministers highlighting issues within their respective portfolios and proposing areas for attention and improvement. The aim was practical: to ensure that findings from independent civic monitoring reached the institutions in a form that could be considered when measures were reviewed, developed, or implemented. This creates an important cycle of accountability: monitor implementation, identify gaps, communicate recommendations, and then return to see what has changed.

An opportunity to improve the new Roadmap

The updating of Bulgaria’s national Roadmap in 2026 provided an early opportunity to put this approach into practice. When the draft updated Roadmap was opened for public consultation, ProInfo submitted a formal opinion based on its monitoring experience. Rather than simply repeating the conclusions of the previous report, we examined the new Roadmap on its own merits while drawing on the evidence and recommendations generated through the 2025 monitoring. The opinion recognised improvements in the updated document while identifying areas where measures, implementation mechanisms, transparency, accessibility, and stakeholder participation could be strengthened. This is precisely where civic monitoring can have practical value: not only documenting shortcomings after the fact, but bringing accumulated evidence into the policy process while decisions can still be improved.

The next step: monitoring implementation

The new monitoring cycle in 2026 examines the implementation of all measures included in Bulgaria’s Roadmap. ProInfo will review official policy and implementation documents, examine available evidence, consult responsible institutions and relevant experts, and assess individual measures using the common ECAS civic monitoring methodology. Particular attention will be paid to what has changed since the previous monitoring: whether identified gaps have been addressed, whether implementation has advanced, whether sufficient evidence of results is publicly available, and whether the Roadmap is becoming more transparent, inclusive, and accountable. The findings will be consolidated into a new civic monitoring report and discussed with policymakers, civil society, business and IT organisations, experts, researchers, media, and other relevant stakeholders.

Monitoring the Digital Decade as a process

The Digital Decade runs to 2030, and meaningful civic oversight requires continuity. The value of repeated monitoring is that each cycle does more than produce another snapshot. It creates a record of what was promised, what was implemented, what problems were identified, what recommendations were made, and what changed afterwards. Through ECAS, Bulgaria’s experience also becomes part of a wider European monitoring effort. Common approaches allow national findings to contribute to cross-country comparison, shared learning, and a stronger civic perspective on how Europe’s digital transformation is progressing. For ProInfo, the central question will remain simple:

Are the measures in Bulgaria’s Digital Decade Roadmap delivering the results they were designed to achieve?

We intend to keep asking that question throughout the implementation of the Digital Decade to 2030 — and to keep bringing the answers back to the institutions responsible for turning the Roadmap into results.