site.btaUPDATED GERB-UDF Floor Leader Borissov Claims He Told PM, Finance Minister to Withdraw 2026 State Budget Bill or Work with Previous Budget

Commenting on the upcoming second-reading vote on the 2026 State Budget Bill, GERB-UDF Floor Leader and GERB Chair Boyko Borissov told reporters in Parliament’s lobby on Thursday that he had advised Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov and Finance Minister Temenuzhka Petkova to withdraw the draft budget or find a legal mechanism to proceed, given that it has already passed first reading.

Borissov said that until dialogue is restored with the National Council for Tripartite Cooperation and an agreement is reached on how the country will be governed in the coming years, the government should operate under the existing budget for 2025.

“I’ve told you many times I don’t like this [draft] budget,” Borissov said, adding that he and PM Zhelyazkov will announce their decision on the situation soon. Borissov stressed that earlier in the morning he had convened the Joint Governance Council, the parties of the ruling majority, PM Zhelyazkov and Finance Minister Petkova, as the mandate holder.

“Unlike other people, even if only one person is protesting, I try to listen. Some of the demands actually make sense. For decades I have always worked in dialogue with the Tripartite Council,” Borissov added. He argued that as finance minister, Continue the Change leader Assen Vassilev had postponed adopting a budget until August in past years, “so nothing dramatic is happening”, according to the GERB Chair.

Asked whether Bulgaria could enter the eurozone without an adopted 2026 State Budget, Borissov replied: “It makes no difference. The budget has a 3% deficit, exactly as required by the European Commission, so there is no problem.”

He described Wednesday’s protest in central Sofia as “very good”, and when asked whether he was afraid, he responded: “Afraid of whom? Of the Skull (ed. ex-gambling mogul Vassil Bojkov)?” Borissov also added jokingly: “When there’s a Champions League match and Real Madrid is playing, should I go to a protest instead?”

On Wednesday evening, thousands of people filled streets in downtown Sofia and the square known as the “Power Triangle”, where the new National Assembly building is flanked by the Presidency and the Council of Ministers, to protest the adoption of the 2026 budget bills.