site.btaCITUB and Podkrepa Unions See Proposed New Draft State Budget as "Acceptable"

The influential Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria (CITUB) and the Podkrepa Confederation of Labour described the proposed new version of the state budget for 2026 as "acceptable", given the concessions made by the social partners. CITUB President Plamen Dimitrov and Podkrepa Chief Economist Atanas Katsarchev commented on the matter at a news briefing at the Council of Ministers after the meeting of the National Council for Tripartite Cooperation (NCTC) of the government, employers and the unions.

"This budget is acceptable, and we believe it should go through", said Dimitrov. According to him, CITUB supports the state budget on two conditions, both of which the finance minister has committed to fulfilling: securing EUR 15 million in funds for the Bulgarian State Railways – Passenger Transport and allocating an additional EUR 7.8 million to Bulgarian Post.

Dimitrov added that they had also seen their request for the restoration of funds for public transport realized, recalling the protest by public transport drivers in Sofia a few months ago with demands for higher pay.

According to Dimitrov, "there is no drama" in taking on debt to cover the budget deficit. In his view, this makes it possible to finance the capital programme, which includes investment projects that would boost the economy.

"When it comes to the mantra about [a need to slash jobs in] the public administration, we must be careful with numbers, especially if there are real people behind them", said Dimitrov. He added that 469,000 people are employed by the government and 350,000 of them work in education, culture, healthcare, and social care. "If these are the people holding us back, I think we're barking up the wrong tree", he commented.

The CITUB President pointed out that the state administration employs 114,000 people, and the EUR 1 billion increase in salaries is in line with the increase in personnel costs over the last four years under different governments.

Atanas Katsarchev, chief economist of the Podkrepa Confederation of Labour said that the priorities for the trade union are income policy, demographic policy, and tax and social security policy.

Regarding income policy, Katsarchev believes that the distribution of wages in the public sector must be agreed upon by the trade unions to avoid distortions. According to him, the only notable aspect of demographic policy is the increase in maternity benefits in the second year.

"Next year, we must start talks about what has not happened", said Katsarchev. He added that there should be a discussion about a clearer direction for the country's development and that an economic policy should be on the agenda.

Earlier on Monday, the NCTC discussed the draft budgets of 2026 State Budget Bill, the National Health Insurance Fund Budget Bill and the Public Social Insurance Budget Bill.