Parliament Friday voted 123-48, with 12 abstentions, to pass at second reading amendments to the Labour Code introducing a new mechanism for setting the national minimum wage. The amendments were approved with the support of the majority of Progressive Bulgaria, as proposed by the Council of Ministers.
The bill provides for the minimum wage to be determined on the basis of four criteria: the purchasing power of the minimum wage, taking into account the cost of living; the overall level and distribution of wages; the rate of wage growth; and long-term levels of labour productivity in the country.
The minimum wage for the following year is to be set by August 15, while the formula for its calculation and the specific indicators will be laid down in a Council of Ministers ordinance.
The adequacy of the minimum wage will be assessed every three years. The President of the National Statistical Institute will establish the procedure and methodology for determining and publishing cost-of-living data within nine months of the amendments taking effect.
Proposals by GERB-UDF and Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) to conduct the adequacy assessment every two years were rejected. Parliament also rejected a proposal by Continue the Change that, for 2027, the minimum wage should be set at 50% of the average gross wage over a 12-month period covering the last two quarters of the previous year and the first two quarters of the current year. Continue the Change’s proposal for the provisions establishing the new mechanism to take effect on January 1, 2027 was also rejected.
The opposition criticized the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy for informing the relevant parliamentary committee about the formula for determining the minimum wage and the individual indicators on a “loose sheet of paper” rather than including them in the Labour Code amendments. Opposition MPs warned that the new mechanism might not be applicable to the 2027 minimum wage because one of the criteria, the cost of living, will only be determined after nine months. They also noted that while the social partners had agreed on the structure of the mechanism, they had not reached agreement on the level of the minimum wage for next year.
Deputy Labour Minister Nadya Klisurska said the amendments introduce a new mechanism designed to ensure that the minimum wage simultaneously performs social and economic functions. She said the consensus was reached with the social partners on the mechanism. The criteria are set out in the Labour Code, while the ordinance will regulate the procedure and methodology for calculating the minimum wage and cooperation with workers’ and employers’ organizations, she said. Klisurska noted that the Labour Code currently requires the minimum wage to be set by September 1, while the figure for the previous year was adopted on November 13. The Council of Ministers has set the minimum wage since the Labour Code was introduced, she added.
The second-reading debate on the Labour Code amendments lasted nearly five hours, with the potential level of the 2027 minimum wage a key point of the discussions. Continue the Change MP Venko Sabrutev, Chair of Parliament’s Labour, Demographic and Social Policy Committee, said the new mechanism would put the lowest-paid workers at a disadvantage of EUR 73, an amount he compared to the average household heating bill.
Ivan Angelov of Progressive Bulgaria called this a lie, saying the minimum wage under the proposed mechanism would be between EUR 620.20 and EUR 672.82 and that there was no way workers would receive EUR 73 less. “We will not be a country of the minimum wage; we want all Bulgarian citizens to develop and receive decent wages,” he said, adding that this could only be achieved by increasing innovation and labour productivity.
Sabrutev said that under the previous formula the minimum wage would have been EUR 693, while under the new mechanism it would range between EUR 620 and EUR 672, accounting for the difference of up to EUR 73. He said the government is reducing incomes.
Vazrazhdane MP Georgi Georgiev said the exact level of the minimum wage was currently unclear, adding that the only certainty was that it would go down. He said 500,000-600,000 Bulgarian citizens could lose out by EUR 18 or more.
MRF MP Ayten Sabri said statistics show that between 25% and 30% of workers in Bulgaria receive the minimum wage, adding that Sofia is not Bulgaria. The aim is for people to know what minimum wage they will see on their payslip, she said.
In response, Angelov said the minimum wage could be reduced by up to EUR 73 only if no increase took place. “I assure you, there will be one,” he said.
Parliament Approves New Minimum Wage Formula at Second Reading THE NEWS FROM BULGARIA – NEWS AGENCY 2009-2025 2026-09-25 15:44:49
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