Balgarianovinite.com The parliamentary Committee on Direct Participation of Citizens, Citizens’ Complaints and Interaction with Civil Society presented on Wednesday the Annual Report on the activities of the Ombudsman in 2025. The Ombudsman’s activity report was adopted unanimously, with 13 votes in favour.
“At the beginning of 2025, there was neither an Ombudsman nor a Deputy Ombudsman, which significantly limited citizens’ ability to make use of the institution’s powers. Nevertheless, trust remains high,” Ombudsman Velislava Delcheva said.
“In 2025, there were 10,256 complaints and signals submitted to the Ombudsman, while my Deputy and I received or spoke with around 12,418 people in various forms,” the Ombudsman added. “We saw a 118% increase in petitions, representing another 63,440 citizens. By comparison, there were 29,000 in 2024,” she said.
Citizens mainly complain about problems with public service providers, or what are known as consumer rights – electricity, heating and water, Velislava Delcheva explained. There has also been an increase in complaints related to fundamental rights and freedoms and the work of the National Preventive Mechanism, she added.
“Almost one in every two opinions or recommendations we send receives a positive response and produces a result, but there are problems that are still awaiting a solution,” she said. Among these, she cited rising food prices, as well as the cost of other goods such as medicines and medical devices, electricity, transport and other essential goods and services. “People are complaining about increases they cannot explain or are finding increasingly difficult to bear,” the Ombudsman said. She noted that she had sent Parliament a letter containing measures that could help citizens.
Delcheva said that the Ombudsman institution considered the “Basket of Care” initiative a good one, but that the need for support in small settlements was substantial.
“Internationally, we received important recognition by successfully defending the status of the Bulgarian Ombudsman before the UN Committee, which enables greater protection for Bulgarian citizens before specialised UN bodies,” Delcheva said.
“We established thematic civic advisory councils and held practically oriented discussions, including on juvenile justice and domestic violence,” she said. “I intend to actively work during my term on establishing crisis centres in all regional cities, as there are currently only 13,” she stressed.
“There is a permanent reception office at the Ombudsman institution, and there are dates when my Deputy and I meet with citizens in Sofia. We also held reception days in other cities in 2025,” Delcheva said.
The Ombudsman also recalled a campaign aimed at older people and the adoption of the euro, as well as a campaign focused on working with young people.
“I launched the ‘Ombudsman Ambassadors’ initiative, inviting young people to develop the messages to their peers themselves about what the Ombudsman is, what its powers are and how the institution can help them,” Delcheva explained, expressing hope that the initiative would be expanded.
“We established a hotline with the Consumer Protection Commission,” the Ombudsman also said. She also highlighted water supply as a major systemic problem. Delcheva noted abuses by debt collection companies. Regarding the Territorial Expert Medical Committees (TELK), every second complaint concerns the lengthy procedure, Delcheva said. She added that conditions in psychiatric hospitals were poor. “Together with the Central Election Commission, we managed to guarantee the right to a secret ballot for people with visual impairments,” Delcheva also recalled.
Parliamentary Committee on Direct Participation of Citizens Adopts Ombudsman’s 2025 Annual Report 2026 THE NEWS FROM BULGARIA – NEWS AGENCY 2009-2025 2026-09-02 15:46:54
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БЪЛГАРИЯ НОВИНИТЕ – ИНФОРМАЦИОННА АГЕНЦИЯ 2009-2026 2026-09-02 15:46:54