site.btaPoliticians, Trade Unions Comment on 2026 Draft Budget

Politicians and trade unions continued to comment on the 2026 draft budget on Tuesday. The Council of Ministers has not yet submitted its budget proposal to Parliament. A meeting of the National Council for Tripartite Cooperation (NCTC) scheduled for November 5 was called off after employers' organizations refused to participate in protest against the proposed budget.

Representatives of the government, employers and trade unions are scheduled to meet on November 13.

Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov said on Tuesday he was confident that the government would secure the National Assembly's approval of the 2026 budget, the first one for Bulgaria as a member of the euro area. Tripartite dialogue is important for coordination and achieving social balance, but it cannot put restrictions on the government, Zhelyazkov said on Monday.

GERB-UDF Deputy Floor Leader Denitsa Sacheva said that there is nothing in the budget that has been agreed upon by both employers and trade unions. She said that employers are insisting on an increase in the value added tax rate, while the trade unions are opposed to it. "Raising VAT would burden all Bulgarian citizens," Sacheva said.

The leaders of the two major trade unions met with GERB's leadership to discuss the proposed budget. Plamen Dimitrov, President of the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria, said the union deems the 2026 draft budget a feasible and compromise version that will be supported with some additions - on subsidies for the Bulgarian State Railways (BDZ), the postal service, urban transport and other systems - at Thursday's meeting of the NCTC.

Dimitar Manolov, President of the Podkrepa Confederation of Labour, said the higher VAT rate proposed by the employers' organizations is "unacceptable and scandalous". He called it a "red line", adding that with Bulgaria's upcoming entry in the euro area such a step would have negative consequences, leading to an excessive increase in prices.

Deputy Prime Minister Grozdan Karadjov, who is also Transport and Communications Minister, said that under the 2026 draft budget, infrastructure projects are not at risk of being cut for now. Social spending is important and must be preserved, but infrastructure cannot be abandoned, as the residents of Plovdiv, Ruse, Burgas, Sofia are waiting for projects to be completed, he stressed, adding that abandoning infrastructure makes people poorer. He promised that all projects would be implemented by the end of 2029.

Regional Development Minister Ivan Ivanov said the 2026 State Budget Act will be adopted on time, not least because this is the first budget in euro. Ivanov said the proposed budget contains a very large number of policies that will benefit Bulgarian citizens, municipalities and businesses. He stressed that if the budget is not adopted, it would be an act of irresponsibility towards everyone in the country, especially towards citizens and municipalities.

The Vazrazhdane party commented in a press release that the government's proposal to introduce the Sales Management Software for Retail Outlets measure as part of the 2026 State Budget Act is "another burden on businesses". The draft budget includes a proposal requiring all merchants who accept cash or card payments to use certified Sales Management Software as of January 1, 2026, so as to ensure full and traceable reporting of sales and to reduce undeclared turnover. "It is absurd that even the smallest shop with a daily turnover of BGN 100 will be required to pay for the software and invest in equipment in order to use it," the party said.