site.btaUnions Lift Public Transport Blockade in Sofia after Government Pledges to Reallocate BGN 15 Mln to Solve Crisis

Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov Monday said that the government would allocate BGN 15 million to Sofia Municipality to resolve the ongoing public transport crisis in Sofia. Normal service is expected to resume on Tuesday, he added as quoted by the Government Information Service. In a Monday evening livestream on their Facebook page, the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria (CITUB) said that they are lifting the blockade on Sofia's surface public transport, which will resume normal operation on Tuesday.

Surface public transport in Sofia remained suspended on Monday. For the sixth consecutive day, buses, trams and trolleybuses in Bulgaria’s capital did not leave their depots due to the ongoing protest of surface public transport workers. They are protesting for a BGN 400 pay rise from March 1, 2025, as well as for the provision of sanitary facilities and toilets, improved lighting, heating and work uniform. The demands also include an increase in the cost of overheads for meals from BGN 15 to BGN 20 from March 1, 2025.

Sofia Mayor Vassil Terziev invited members of the CITUB, who represent the striking public transport workers in the capital, to a meeting at Sofia City Hall on Monday morning. Terziev emphasized that he expects more than just demands from the unions, he said he wanted concrete details and long-term planning. CITUB said they had not received any formal invitation but appeared for the talks.

Vice President of CITUB Todor Kapitanov told journalists after the three-hour meeting that the blockade will continue. He noted that neither side was willing to make concessions.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Terziev said that no actual negotiations had taken place - only a restatement of each side's position. Regarding the upcoming matriculation exams, Terziev assured the public that the necessary transport arrangements have already been made. “No child will be left without a way to reach their exam location,” the mayor confirmed.

On the days of the matriculation exams, the Sofia Municipality teams will be available from 5:00 to 8:00 a.m. to transport the high school graduates and teachers overseeing the exams to the educational institutions where the exams will take place, the Municipality's press centre announced on Monday. In connection with the interruption of ground public transport and the state matriculation exams, the Sofia Municipality was organizing transport and access to schools on May 21 and 23 in order to guarantee the normal conduct of the exams.

Following meetings with Sofia Mayor Terziev and representatives of CITUB and Podkrepa Confederation of Labour, Prime Minister Zhelyazkov said that the government would allocate BGN 15 million to Sofia Municipality to resolve the ongoing public transport crisis in Sofia. “We proposed a reallocation of resources from the central budget,” Zhelyazkov said in the presence of Finance Minister Temenuzhka Petkova, GERB leader Boyko Borissov and municipal councillors. His statement was broadcast live on Borissov's Facebook page.

Speaking to reporters after the Government announced it would extend an extra BGN 15 million for the protesting public transportation workers in the capital, Sofia Mayor Vassil Terziev said: "They created the crisis - they solved it. We are waiting for the next episode where all this will be repeated." According to Mayor Terziev, the lack of long-term thinking and problem-solving has created the transport problems in the capital. 

The trade unions vowed they will watch closely to ensure that the BGN 15 million in additional funding pledged by the central government for the Sofia public transport system is used solely to augment employees’ pay. 

Speaking at a meeting with municipal councilors at GERB’s headquarters on Monday, party leader Boyko Borissov said that GERB had had no involvement in the public transport protests in Sofia and had not interfered with the work of Mayor Vassil Terziev. “These are entirely trade union actions,” Borissov added. He was joined by Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov, and his statement was broadcast on Facebook.

Borissov criticized Terziev for what he described as a "laid-back" attitude in the face of this issue and for failing to address the Municipal Council. Commenting on the government’s decision to allocate BGN 15 million to Sofia Municipality to resolve the crisis, Borissov called it “wrong but justified under the circumstances.” He said that taxpayer money would go to Sofia’s public transport drivers and this raises the question of equal treatment for others.

A protest in support of Sofia Mayor Vassil Terziev took place outside the Sofia Municipality building. The protest was held under the slogan "Support for Sofia Mayor in the Face of the Mafia". Speaking to reporters, Continue the Change – Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB) co-leader Kiril Petkov said: “GERB created a problem. They tried to pressure the mayor, but he did not give in. GERB set a vise trap – no state funding from above, sabotage from the municipal council below, and the Mayor squeezed in the middle. It did not work.”

Later on Monday, CITUB said that they are lifting the blockade on Sofia's surface public transport, which will resume normal operation on Tuesday. In a livestream on their Facebook page, CITUB's Transport Unions Federation President Alexander Shopov and protesters began removing the blockade at the Banishora depot. CITUB Vice President Todor Kapitanov explained that the additional BGN 15 million allocated by the Government are enough to cover the protesters' demands for a pay rise by BGN 300 for all workers in Sofia's public transport.

The Sofia Municipal Council gave the green light to a pay rise of BGN 300 each for public transport workers and thus sealed a deal that would end the six-day protest of public transport workers. The head of the transport committee of the Sofia Municipal Council, Ivan Takov of BSP for Bulgaria, said they had proposed an increase in the economic framework as of April 1 by BGN 300 for all public transport employees.

Takov explained that at Monday's joint sitting of the committees on transport, on economy, on property, on digital transformation, and on finance and budget, the municipal councillors adopted a decision to send a position to the Urban Mobility Centre, which has to send an economic framework on transport for 2025 to the Sofia Municipal Council within two days. This framework will be reviewed at a meeting on May 29.