site.btaLabour Minister Gutsanov Seeks EU Support for New Elderly Care Centres

Labour and Social Policy Minister Borislav Gutsanov met with European Commission Vice President Roxana Minzatu to discuss options for EU funding to build new residential centres for older people, the Labour and Social Policy Ministry said here Monday. The two also talked about challenges facing EU member States, including demographic pressures and labour shortages.

Gutsanov said the demographic crisis and the lack of staff were the two biggest challenges facing the European Union and that without solutions to them, the bloc could not move forward. He added that buildings no longer in use could be renovated and turned into homes for older people in need of care. He also spoke about the latest initiative of the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy, under which five new centres for around 100 people were opened in Bulgaria in exactly such buildings.

Gutsanov and Minzatu also discussed changes to European legislation to safeguard pension rights for citizens who have worked in more than one EU member State. “We must ensure fairness. One of the main priorities when the European Union was created was free movement, and now a person who has worked in more than one member State cannot secure their pension rights,” he said in the ministry’s press release.

Gutsanov also met with Germany’s Federal Minister of Labour and Social Affairs Barbel Bas. “There are currently 65,000 jobs in Bulgaria that exist thanks to investments from Germany. It is important in this difficult situation to preserve these jobs,” Gutsanov said. Bas expressed readiness to protect the rights of Bulgarians in her country. “I want to protect Bulgarian workers and I will not tolerate their exploitation,” she said. The two ministers discussed ways to make workers more aware of their rights.

Workers’ rights were also at the centre of Gutsanov’s meeting with Cyprus Labour and Social Insurance Minister Yiannis Panayiotou. Cyprus will take over the Presidency of the Council of the EU in January 2026. Gutsanov extended an official invitation to Panayiotou to visit Sofia. The two discussed the priorities of the Cypriot Presidency and joint initiatives between the two countries that could be implemented.

Gutsanov also took part in a meeting of the Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council on Monday.

Borislav Gutsanov has been Labour and Social Policy Minister in the Rosen Zhelyazkov cabinet since January 2025, representing BSP – United Left. His ministry has launched a broader reform of long-term care, planning new senior care facilities in five municipalities after inspections uncovered illegal nursing homes and starting the renovation or conversion of dozens of state-run homes for older people and people with specific needs using municipal buildings. In Popovo he has also broken ground for a specialized support centre and three new residential buildings for adults with intellectual disabilities under a National Recovery and Resilience Plan programme to modernize all 81 state homes for older people and open more than 250 new social services nationwide.

At EU level, Gutsanov has stressed the need to balance competitiveness with social protection. At a recent Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council meeting in Brussels he backed efforts to cut administrative burdens for companies, while insisting this must not come at the expense of workers’ rights, working conditions or access to housing, and called for better one-stop digital services for businesses. Earlier in November he took part in a Sofia discussion on the future of the labour market, focusing on the demographic crisis, the digital transition and the outflow of skilled workers, and presented ministry measures to improve the demographic situation and to attract and retain qualified staff in Bulgaria.

Roxana Minzatu, the European Commission’s Executive Vice-President responsible for social rights, skills, quality jobs and preparedness, has maintained an active dialogue with Bulgaria. In June 2025 she visited Sofia for talks with Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov, parliamentary leaders and several ministers on the use of European instruments to support employment, social protection and the link between education and the real economy. During that visit, she and Zhelyazkov underscored Bulgaria’s commitment to the European Pillar of Social Rights and highlighted initiatives such as the Skills Union, dual education and the building of STEM centres, while Minzatu also visited projects financed by the European Social Fund Plus and the Institute for Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence and Technology (INSAIT).