Balgarianovinite.com Continue the Change (CC) will challenge the 2026 State Budget Act before the Constitutional Court unless President Iliana Iotova vetoes it, CC Chair Assen Vassilev said on Tuesday. CC representatives met Iotova after submitting a petition for a veto signed by over 32,000 people.
Vassilev said Iotova would make clear on Wednesday whether she would veto the Act.
CC identified among the unconstitutional provisions the suspension of disability pensions without a court ruling or even an indictment being filed. It also objected to changes affecting workers’ accrual of length of service that were introduced without justification, an impact assessment or prior public consultation. Vassilev said it was unclear how the hourly calculation of length of service would affect part-time workers.
A third provision suspended the statutory mechanism for setting the minimum wage and froze it at EUR 620 without providing an alternative, Vassilev said. EU law requires Bulgaria to have such a mechanism, and its absence would breach both the principle of predictability and the relevant EU directive, he added.
The most serious constitutional objection concerned linking magistrates’ pay to MPs’ salaries, Vassilev said. The Court of Justice of the European Union had ruled that pay in the judiciary must be determined using objective criteria, while MPs’ salaries were perhaps the most politically determined in the country and certainly were not based on objective criteria, he added.
Another argument concerned teachers’ pay. The Ministry of Education and Science and the trade unions had signed a collective agreement, and sufficient funding had been provided for eight consecutive years to meet the pay levels specified in it. In 2026, for the first time in eight years, the allocated funding was insufficient, meaning the ministry would breach a collective agreement that remained in force, Vassilev said.
Vassilev also said it was unclear how EUR 1.7 billion in capital expenditure would be spent because no projects were listed.
Asked about GERB-UDF’s planned constitutional challenge to the Budget Act, Vassilev said CC would first review its grounds and then decide whether to support it.
A referral to the Constitutional Court requires the signatures of 48 MPs.
Parliament gave final approval to the 2026 State Budget Act on July 24. The Act sets a deficit of 5.7% of GDP, freezes the minimum monthly wage at EUR 620.20 and allows up to EUR 10.1 billion in new government borrowing in 2026.
CC launched its petition after the vote, arguing that the Act contained several unconstitutional provisions. It objected to the omission of funding for the National Children’s Hospital, municipal projects and the construction or renovation of religious buildings, as well as to placing EUR 1 billion intended for municipalities under the sole control of one minister. CC initially also sought vetoes of the Public Social Insurance Budget Act and the National Health Insurance Fund Budget Act, but Iotova signed both after a legal review found no fiscal or constitutional grounds for a veto. Continue the Change Plans Court Challenge Unless President Iotova Vetoes 2026 Budget Act 2026 THE NEWS FROM BULGARIA – NEWS AGENCY 2009-2025 2026-07-28 15:43:00 Latest news World news Country news Most important news latest news most important latest of the day Justice Petar Nizamov Feathers Petar Nizamov- Feathers Justice bg iustitia.bg iustitia iusticia usticia investigation Burgas Bulgaria news news of the last hour news of the day news of today Bulgaria news The news from Bulgaria blitz news top news most important most commented latest news Boyko Borisov news weather coronavirus news news weather facebook youtube facebook instagram news today news of the last minutes news today today news news bg news leading news hot news bg news site for news all news news bg news of the last hour latest latest news bg news of today news today news today news of the last hour latest news today news bg news news 24 hours news vesti bg novini news world bird bg bivol bg bivol trud bg novini latest news today novinite bg news hello bulgaria political party coat of arms delyan peevski scandalous Bulgarian National Television Free Europe Television scandal exclusive live tv live right now tv tv online tv program bg live now tv news online tv online live court Burgas court Burgas district court Burgas court Burgas district court Burgas district court Burgas appellate court Burgas prosecutor Burgas prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev Prosecutor Geshev Tsatsarov Ministry of Internal Affairs Burgas ODMR Burgas ODPR Burgas police Burgas district police Burgas prosecutor Tsatsarov SGS cases Varna court chairman of the SGS court decisions on civil cases decisions on cases Plovdiv court decision of the court decisions cases Varna court criminal cases district district court decisions work in the court SGS chairman of the SGS judges Sofia court post judges Plovdiv court Plovdiv judges Plovdiv Supreme Court Inspectorate Supreme Court Supreme Judicial Council lawyer lawyer criminal cases lawyer civil cases lawyer marriage cases lawyer administrative criminal law criminal process civil law civil process administrative law constitutional law