After Surprise U-Turns, Parliament Extends 2025 Budget into 2026 as Political Reactions Span the Spectrum

Diana Dukovska

Parliament extends the 2025 budget into 2026, Sofia, December 17, 2025 (BTA Photo/Blagoy Kirilov)

Sofia,

17.12.2025 20:02

(BTA)

Bulgaria's Parliament on Wednesday adopted a 2025-to-2026 Budget Extension Bill on second reading. It was approved on first reading earlier in the day.

The adopted bill regulates expenditure and revenue collection in the coming year until the adoption of a State Budget Act and the budgets of the National Health Insurance Fund and of the public social insurance system for 2026, but for no more than three months, in compliance with the Public Finance Act, the Social Security Code and the Health Insurance Act. The rules for currency conversion set out in the Act on the Introduction of the Euro in the Republic of Bulgaria will apply in the implementation of the law.

In a surprise move earlier in the day, MPs of the government coalition - GERB-UDF, BSP-United Left, and There Is Such a People (TISP) - backed by MRF-New Beginning and two unaffiliated MPs, included in Parliament's agenda the revised versions of the 2026 National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) Budget Bill and the controversial 2026 State Budget Bill.

The government's budget proposal was revised after massive protests in late November and on December 1 and December 10, which led to the resignation of the Rosen Zhelyazkov Cabinet on December 11.

BSP-United Left called for the adoption of the revised 2026 budget proposal, which had been agreed upon with trade unions and employers. "Anyone who wants to revise it and submit a different one in three months can do so," said Floor Leader Dragomir Stoynev.

Seeing that the revised State budget and NHIF budget proposals were once again on the agenda, the opposition Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB) reacted strongly and called on people to take to the streets on Thursday.

CC-DB co-leader Assen Vassilev told journalists: "We have just witnessed the most brazen vote in this Parliament; for the fourth time, the ruling parties are trying to push through their thieving budget." Ivaylo Mirchev MP of CC-DB said the budget that brought hundreds of thousands of demonstrators to the streets is now going to be adopted.

After a break and a revote, the revised budgets were dropped from the agenda.

The upcoming protest was not called off afterwards, with Mirchev saying that people should still "come out and protest tomorrow [Thursday]" as the government coalition is opposed to Election Code amendments that would strengthen the role of machines as the primary method of casting and counting votes, and to sabotage the removal of the security detail of MRF-New Beginning leader Delyan Peevski.

Mirchev also told journalists that the majority in Parliament had reversed its own decision, apparently alarmed by the prospect of a protest on December 18. CC leader Assen Vassilev said people should protest because they want "Borissov and Peevski removed from the Bulgarian political system".

Once the 2026 State Budget Bill was abandoned, GERB-UDF Deputy Floor Leader Denitsa Sacheva and TISP Floor Leader Toshko Yordanov told a joint news conference that they will support only the extension of the 2025 budget into 2026. Sacheva said GERB-UDF and TISP supported the request of BSP-United Left to consider once again the revised state budget because for the Left, the adoption of a regular budget is a consistent political priority. She warned that if Bulgaria enters 2026 without a budget, doctors, teachers, 750,000 people with disabilities and more than 100,000 personal assistants to people with disabilities, among others, will be affected.

In a video address, GERB Chair Boyko Borissov said the consequences of an extended budget would be severe. He confirmed Denitsa Sacheva's statement that GERB-UDF would back only а budget extension. The GERB leader stated that the people who are responsible for the situation described by Sacheva are Continue the Change Chair Assen Vassilev and "his gang of hooligans".

Sacheva also criticized CC-DB for failing to try to de-escalate the situation and to behave responsibly. She claimed Assen Vassilev was still "trying to blackmail MPs and to privatize protests that are far from being in his support and in which he is far from being a leader".

For his part, Toshko Yordanov said his party backed the revised 2026 State Budget Bill because after the Cabinet resigned in the wake of the protests, "many Bulgarian citizens are wondering what will happen without a budget or with a budget extension". He also said that the revised State budget, championed by BSP-United Left, had "mechanisms for a smooth transition to the euro and sufficient financial mechanisms to avoid any shocks".

Meanwhile, Plamen Dimitrov, President of the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions of Bulgaria, said that the union and all its federations were urging MPs to approve the updated and adjusted 2026 State Budget Bill. He suggested that it should be adopted in the form in which it was submitted, or if there are any objections and serious disagreements, adjustments could be made.

Vazrazhdane leader Kostadin Kostadinov took a different view, saying the best solution would be to adopt an altogether new State budget. He called the situation in Parliament "unprecedented", arguing that an attempt was being made to adopt a budget that had effectively led to the fall of the government. He claimed that the government's second budget proposal was practically a rehashed version of the first. As to backing a Budget Extension Bill, Kostadinov said the country is already paying a high price for the debts incurred in 2025. He warned that debt interest is rising and Bulgaria is gradually entering a debt spiral.

/MR/