site.btaEx-Incumbents' "Boycott" of State Budget Extension Jeopardizes Armed Forces' Rearmament, MPs Argue

Lawmakers of Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria Friday blamed the former powerholders for blocking the progress through Parliament of a bill extending the 2025 State Budget Act.

Speaking to journalists, MP Ivaylo Mirchev argued that what he called the ex-incumbents' boycott of the draft legislation exposes the Bulgarian armed forces' rearmament to an "enormous risk" because the funding for this effort from the EU Security Action for Europe (SAFE) instrument cannot be ensured once this law has been adopted. Mirchev insisted that this jeopardizes national security, which is "quite irresponsible and is precisely at the core of the Borissov-Peevski model". He was referring to GERB leader Boyko Borissov and Movement for Rights and Freedoms leader Delyan Peevski, whose parties dominated and, respectively, supported the Rosen Zhelyazkov coalition cabinet that resigned in December 2025 and was succeeded by the Andrey Gurov caretaker cabinet in February 2026.

For his part, MP Martin Dimitrov described the way the bill is being handled as "clear sabotage on the part of the former ruling majority". "Yesterday's meeting of the [parliamentary] Budget and Finance Committee did not take place without any explanations, and a meeting is not scheduled for today or for next week, either," he pointed out. "The ex-incumbents explained that they were offended by the caretaker Finance Minister who did not invite them to consultations at the Ministry. Under a caretaker Cabinet, the [budget] extension law is like a caretaker budget, it does not contain politics but merely ensures payments and the functioning of all systems," Dimitrov emphasized.