site.btaGERB Leader Says Budget Parameters Cannot Be Changed

GERB leader Boyko Borissov said that the approved parameters of the 2026 draft budgets of the State, the National Health Insurance Fund and the Public Social Insurance, cannot be changed now. He rejected the role responsibility for the proposed budgets and said that “it is a coalition budget, the last GERB-only budget was in 2020.”

The Cabinet's draft of the 2026 state budget raises the minimum wage, pension insurance contributions and the dividend tax, outraging businesses. Earlier on Wednesday, the four employer organizations refused to attend a meeting of the Tripartite Council (of Cabinet, unions and employers) that was expected to discuss the proposed budget. The three draft budgets need to go through the Tripartite Council before they reach the legislature but the Council has only advisory powers and the approval of the employer organizations and the unions is not required for the budgets to go through. 

Borissov pointed out that while earlier the government was criticized for not giving enough for healthcare workers, mothers, and other social groups, now that additional funding had been allocated, some were criticizing this decision and calling for budget cuts.

Asked to comment remarks by Yes, Bulgaria co-chair Ivaylo Mirchev that the budget was too left-leaning, Borissov said that spending on pensions and wages also increased when Assen Vassilev was Finance Minister in 2021 and suggested that the current fiscal picture now is largely a consequence of decisions back then.

“For ten years we did the right things. Now we do what the coalition wants,” said the GERB leader.