Parliamentary Budget Committee Debates at Second Reading Social Insurance and Health Draft Budgets

Petya Petrova, Martin Lekov

The meeting of the parliamentary budget committee, November 26 (BTA Photo/Minko Chernev)

Sofia,

26.11.2025 15:04

(BTA)

The parliamentary budget and finance committee is holding an extraordinary meeting to debate at second reading the draft budgets of the Public Social Insurance and the National Health Insurance Fund for 2026.

The committee began work in essence nearly two hours later after the meeting was moved ahead to 12.20 pm from 2.15 pm. The earlier time caused disagreements among the MPs, with Assen Vassilev of Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB) saying that he would not allow this committee meeting to take place during the plenary session break.

A proposal by Venko Sabrutev from CC-DB to postpone the extraordinary meeting was rejected by the committee.

CC-DB had planned to livestream the committee meeting on large screens placed in front of Parliament during a protest against the budget, organized by them at 6 pm. However, with the meeting being moved to an earlier time, it will precede the protest.

The chair of the budget committee, Delyan Dobrev from GERB-UDF0, explained that he moved the meeting to an earlier time because opposition MPs had tried to sabotage the second reading of the two draft budgets by proposing breaks during the plenary session. According to him, this could have pushed the committee meeting to a much later hour, which necessitated scheduling it earlier. Earlier, Dobrev stated that he would not adjourn the extraordinary meeting, as doing so would risk violating the country’s laws.

Earlier, Yordan Tsonev from MRF-New Beginning said that the plenary session had been suspended until the budget committee completed its meeting, and he called on the opposition to allow the committee to review the draft budgets, emphasizing that the majority must be allowed to take responsibility for its proposals.

The budget and finance committee is scheduled to debate the State Budget Bill for 2026 at second reading during a meeting set for tomorrow.

/KK/