site.btaMinisters of Finance, Education Clash with Assen Vassilev from CC–DB over Funding for Education, Science, Healthcare

Finance Minister Temenuzhka Petkova and Minister of Education and Science Krasimir Valchev entered into a dispute with MP Assen Vassilev from Continue the Change – Democratic Bulgaria (CC–DB) over funding for education, science, culture, sports, and healthcare in next year’s draft budget and in the three-year budget forecast. This occurred during the debates on the sixth vote of no confidence against Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov's cabinet for its failure in economic policy. 

“Mr. Zhelyazkov, I urge you to resign and not force the public to resort to excesses in order to obtain it,” CC leader Assen Vassilev said, addressing the Prime Minister at the start of his speech. This resignation is necessary because this government is stealing the future of the Bulgarian people, including from an economic standpoint, he said.

Vassilev stated that, according to the government's plans for 2027, taxes and social security contributions will be raised, funding for education and science will be reduced, and healthcare funding will be frozen. He cited the Prime Minister’s earlier statement that the issue of salaries for young doctors and nurses would be resolved by the end of September. “The problem has not been solved; today the nurses are protesting,” Vassilev said. He added: “I am certain it wasn’t your idea to save exactly BGN 200 million from the nurses in order to make version two of the budget add up.” The essential problem, in his view, is that the government cannot make independent decisions. According to him, this is why the government must go, because even if it wants to, it cannot make decisions that serve the interests of Bulgarian citizens.

“If memory serves, until just a few days ago you explained that you did not want the government’s resignation, only a new budget. Who made you change your mind?” Finance Minister Temenuzhka Petkova asked in response. Regarding his claims about funding for sports, education, and culture, she said that once again the Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP) is central. Petkova pointed out that the plan ends in August 2026. “You wrote the last plan - many of the core investments in it are in education, culture, sports, and healthcare,” she said, and asked Vassilev why, if he remembers this, he is misleading the public.

“We have allocated EUR 30 million specifically for young doctors,” Petkova added. “Since everyone is important to us, we have also found a solution for the nurses.” She explained that they had secured EUR 100 million through the Human Resources Development Operational Programme for nurses. “The issue with young doctors and nurses has been resolved; they are protesting against you, not against us,” Petkova commented.

Education and Science Minister Krasimir Valchev said that education spending does not decrease in nominal terms. “There is indeed a reduction compared to the withdrawn budget, but it is not real,” he said. According to him, this reduction is due to the removal of the planned 2-percentage-point cut in social security contributions, and the Ministry of Finance has adjusted projected expenses at the expense of the RRP. “We do not have an actual reduction in spending. On the other hand, we have two increases - one for the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and another for state universities, due to the general 10% wage increase for all staff, including non-academic personnel,” Valchev noted.

“Today you claimed that we are stealing from the future. If we look at the structure of budget expenditures, one group consists of current social expenses, and the other group consists of development expenditures. These include spending on education and science, infrastructure, and attracting investment,” the Minister said. He noted that in 2021, former finance minister Assen Vassilev rejected prudent fiscal policy. “You are the ideologue of the reckless budget policy - you were the one who promoted it. You told the story that we could spend more without raising taxes, but in fact that was the big lie,” Valchev added.