site.btaContinue the Change Leader Describes Budget as "Drip Irrigation" for People and Business, "Waterfall" for Construction, Energy Firms, SJC

The 2026 draft budget is "drip irrigation for people and businesses and a waterfall of euros for circles of companies in construction and energy, and for the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC)," Continue the Change leader and former finance minister Assen Vassilev said at a Thursday press conference on the draft budget presented by the Finance Ministry on Wednesday.

Vassilev noted that the SJC budget is set to increase to EUR 108 million in 2026, which is 251% of the 2025 budget of EUR 43 million.

He also criticized the planned 35% increase in operating expenditure for the state administration, including spending on utilities, official vehicles and building maintenance. According to him, the draft allocates an additional EUR 1.5 billion for administrative operating costs, compared with an increase of EUR 500 million for pensions.

Vassilev said the government plans to raise capital expenditure from EUR 5.8 billion spent in 2025 to EUR 9.3 billion in 2026. He argued that reducing capital spending and administrative operating costs would lower the projected budget deficit to 1.7%.

He also criticized the proposed abolition of the municipal investment programme, saying it is unclear how funding will be distributed among municipalities.

According to Vassilev, the draft budget freezes the minimum monthly wage at EUR 620 until a new mechanism for setting it is introduced in 2027. He said other frozen payments include child-rearing benefits for children up to two years of age, one-off pregnancy and childbirth allowances, the maximum pension, child tax relief, child benefits through 2028, one-off school allowances, teachers' salaries and the wages of most public-sector employees, with the exception of the judiciary.

Vassilev expressed hope that the government would revise what he described as the most controversial proposals before submitting the budget to Parliament, with the aim of reducing the deficit to 3% and using the remaining fiscal buffer for anti-crisis measures and social protection.

Asked whether the budget could trigger protests, Vassilev said this would depend on Bulgarian citizens rather than his party. He argued that the draft was in many respects worse than the budget that led to the fall of the Zhelyazkov Cabinet and claimed that its only clear priorities were "feeding the oligarchy" while offering "drip irrigation" to everyone else.