site.btaUPDATED Meeting of Government, Unions, Employers over 2026 Budget Is Called Off after Employers Refuse to Attend

The Wednesday meeting of the National Council for Tripartite Cooperation of the Cabinet, employers and unions, has been called off, Council Secretary Vaska Shushneva told the press. The social partners were expected to discuss the 2026 draft state budget, as well as the budgets for the National Health Insurance Fund and Public Social Insurance.

The participating employers' organizations refused to attend in protest against the meeting in protest against the proposed budget.

The Cabinet's draft of the 2026 state budget raises the minimum wage, pension insurance contributions and the dividend tax. 

The three draft budgets need to go through the National Council for Tripartite Cooperation 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.

What the employers said

Rumen Radev of the Bulgarian Industrial Capital Association (BICA) said that it was an unanimous decision of the four nationally representative employer organizations not to attend. "It is our position that the budget procedure, in the form the legislator meant it to be, has been violated. There is no tripartite cooperation because of which we see no sense in endorsing a budget that it hopelessly inadequate," he said.

He added that the proposed budget was met with disapproval by economists and that the central bank called for tightening financial discipline.

“This helicopter-money approach has to end. We need to have a clear and reasonable procedure for things to happen,” said Radev. “We were forced, within hours, to familiarize ourselves with the parameters of the budget,” he explained.

The Chairman of the BICA Managing Board commented that apparently talks had been held with the trade unions. “There were indications that one-on-one talks were being held, and leaders of trade union organizations spoke about that — but not with our participation. We have been proposing talk since September but there were none. We prepared preliminary positions outlining the main parameters we expected to see in the budget framework,” Radev further commented.

He said there was a period when the Finance Ministry seemed to be working with the kind of budget figures the employers had expected. “At one point, going through the Joint Governance Council and other non-public procedures, we were presented an extremely left-leaning draft budget,” Radev added.

Employers are determined not to budge and expect to see corrections to the country’s financial plan for 2026. “We do not rely on the debate in the National Assembly — we have no trust in them,” he further stated.

“The Council of Ministers and the National Assembly are legally entitled to do whatever they deem necessary. However, the moral right is not on their side if one of the parties in the tripartite dialogue is ignored,” commented the Chairman of the Managing Board of the Bulgarian Industrial Association, Dobri Mitrev.

“If we had true statesmen, this budget should not even reach the Council of Ministers or the plenary hall,” he said. “This budget is dangerous and harmful for the economy, the industry, and above all — for society,” Mitrev believes.

“It takes away the incomes of working people — of those who add value to the state, fill the treasury, and contribute to the social security funds,” he also said.