site.btaVazrazhdane: Budget Will Blow Up before It Even Comes Together

Vazrazhdane leader Kostadin Kostadinov warned on Wednesday that the state budget “will blow up before it even comes together”. He spoke to reporters in Parliament ahead of a vote on the 2026 budgets of the National Health Insurance Fund and the Public Social Insurance.

The 2026 state budget is expected to reach the plenary for a final vote next week.

Kostadinov said his party is focused on maternity benefits and wants to ensure equal support for all families, not only for certain income groups. “We submitted 80 proposals for the budget in the very short period between first and second reading. Now we hear that the final vote will be held next week, and the question is why. The interval between readings was shortened like never before. One plausible explanation is that they fear their own figures, or they are trying to insert things into the budget through the back door,” he said.

He also suggested that “something is cooking” regarding the Lukoil refinery in Burgas, “but the problem is that there is no money”.

Kostadinov was referring to a proposal by MPs from the government-supporting majority to increase the ceiling on state guarantees that the government can issue to the Bulgarian Development Bank for acquiring assets—possibly the Bulgarian assets of Lukoil—under the Act on Administrative Regulation of Economic Activities Related to Oil and Petroleum Products.

“Bulgaria is limping into the eurozone, and this limping will cause the eurozone to collapse, because at one point they will have to deal with us. Our economy will switch to manual control, and what will happen in Bulgaria will be the same as what happened in Greece—the only difference being that the Greeks had things to sell. Bulgaria has little more than the Kozloduy N-plant, the Maritsa East 2 power plant, several airports and ports, the Sports Totalizator, and government buildings. There is no money in the public purse,” he said.

Kostadinov also reiterated his party’s opposition to granting a concession for the Sports Totalizator. “Inviting a concessionaire will open a huge door for private gambling operators, which we are trying to restrict,” he said.

He said that his party is against the idea of selling a concession for the Sports Totalizator. "Inviting a concessionnaire will open a huge door for all other private gambling operators that we are trying to restrict," he added.