Balgarianovinite.com Deputy Prime Minister Atanas Pekanov said the philosophy of the budget for 2026 is clear – it is a philosophy of full transparency and of showing the unsustainable trends that have accumulated in Bulgaria’s budget over the years.
Interviewed by Bulgarian National Radio, Pekanov said no social payments were being cut. “In fact, pensions were increased as they should have been, while other social payments were partially indexed. What we are stopping, however, is the automatic indexation of the minimum wage, which ultimately contributes in part to these unsustainable trends.”
According to Pekanov, a more ambitious budget for 2027 will be proposed in the autumn.
Commenting on a petition by part of the opposition calling for a presidential veto on the 2026 State Budget Act, Pekanov said that it was the opposition’s job to criticize. He said that in reality, the budget is the opposition’s budget: “This is the situation we inherited in mid-May.”
He said the government could have carried out mass layoffs and frozen pensions in order to meet the 3% deficit target, but had chosen not to do so. According to Pekanov, trade unions’ actual concern was that a new mechanism for determining the minimum wage had not yet been proposed, but such a mechanism would be put forward.
The Deputy Prime Minister in charge of EU funds said there was a huge delay in the implementation of the Recovery and Resilience Plan and some EU programmes. He said work was under way to end irregular practices wherever they had been identified.
Pekanov said that this week one “manipulated corruption scheme” had been terminated at the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works. It concerned a EUR 127 million procedure aimed at providing funding to small and medium-sized enterprises in coal regions. According to him, 1,600 companies had applied, after which the criteria were allegedly adjusted under the Zhelyazkov Cabinet so that certain companies could win the grants. Pekanov said many of the applicants had acted in good faith and therefore could not be deprived of the funding.
“A new procedure will be launched. We discussed it with business representatives this week. These funds for technological modernization in coal regions will be secured, although in a smaller amount, under new rules and criteria, rather than under criteria that had been tailored [to benefit certain applicants],” the Deputy Prime Minister said.
Pekanov also said that in the past week the Supreme Court of Cassation (SCC) had decided not to select a member of the Anti-Corruption Commission, which raised a serious issue for the country’s relations with Brussels. According to him, the European Commission expects Bulgaria to have a functioning anti-corruption commission by the end of August, with five elected members and a chairperson.
“The SCC decided this week that the candidate was probably not suitable, but the law says that the court must select a member of the Anti-Corruption Commission, and it did not do so. This currently risks blocking around EUR 400 million linked to this reform out of the remaining EUR 1.7 billion,” Pekanov said.
He added that in the next five days he would hold talks with the European Commission in search of a “solution, loophole or some kind of condition under which the money could be released.” Deputy PM Pekanov: Budget Philosophy Is Full Transparency, It Reflects Inherited Situation 2026 THE NEWS FROM BULGARIA – NEWS AGENCY 2009-2025 2026-07-26 11:30:22 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
