site.btaGERB-UDF Prepares Constitutional Challenge against 2026 State Budget

GERB-UDF has prepared a constitutional challenge against the 2026 State Budget Act and is seeking backing from other parliamentary groups, GERB-UDF MP and former finance minister Temenuzhka Petkova told a briefing in Parliament on Wednesday, after President Iliana Iotova announced that she will promulgate the Act.

Petkova said GERB-UDF would ask the Constitutional Court to declare the 2026 State Budget Act unconstitutional, because it envisages a fiscal deficit of 5.7% of GDP, while the Public Finance Act sets a ceiling of 3%.

She argued that this constitutes a serious breach of the rule of law and is also at odds with the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. "Such a precedent has never occurred in the Bulgarian Parliament before, but Progressive Bulgaria has managed to make it happen," Petkova said, adding that talks are underway with other parliamentary groups in an effort to secure support for the motion.

According to Petkova, the budget projects EUR 778 million less in revenue while increasing expenditure ambitions by EUR 2.8 billion compared with what she described as the "poor" budget of the Rosen Zhelyazkov cabinet. It also provides for EUR 2.3 billion more in capital expenditure than the amount proposed by that cabinet. "The question now is what they intend to do with those EUR 23 billion in additional capital spending," she added.

GERB-UDF said it was expected that Iotova would proceed with promulgating the budget, citing as her main argument that everyone was waiting for it.

GERB-UDF Deputy Floor Leader Denitsa Sacheva said that GERB-UDF did not believe "people were looking forward to August 1, when motorway vignette fees would rise by 30%, and higher social security contributions on the maximum insurable income would take effect without any increase in the pension ceiling". She also said municipalities were unlikely to welcome what she described as the discretionary approach of Regional Development Minister Ivan Shishkov in deciding which projects would receive funding.

Sacheva argued that public expectations regarding the budget would become clear by the end of August and the beginning of September. She added that around 240,000 part-time employees whose annual leave entitlement would be reduced were also unlikely to welcome the new budget.

She said GERB-UDF had repeatedly stressed that Iotova faced a difficult decision after accepting the support of Progressive Bulgaria. "Our criticism is not directed at her. She is in a difficult position – whether to rely on Progressive Bulgaria's support or hope that voters will forget this budget before the elections," Sacheva said.

According to Sacheva, the more important issue is that Progressive Bulgaria "does not know what it is doing" and is not prepared to implement meaningful reforms. She cited the example of proposals from several parties to increase the second-year maternity benefit for women returning to work earlier than planned, saying the proposal had been rejected before the social minister later announced that the government itself would introduce such a measure.

Sacheva also predicted that the 2026 budget would run into the "fiasco" of the 2027 budget, as public dissatisfaction would become evident after political criticism had gone unheeded.