The CITUB supports some of the measures set out in the draft state budget for 2026, but it also has serious reservations about the financial framework. This was stated by the chief economist of the union Lyuboslav Kostov after the presentation of the draft by the Ministry of Finance, quoted by dariknews.bg. According to him, the final position of the CITUB will be prepared before the meeting of the National Council for Tripartite Cooperation (NCTC).
„We are pleased that they are raising the maximum social security income, although it could have been more. Currently, it is not following the increase in the average social security income and there is a lack of courage in this direction“, said Kostov.
The Confederation of Bulgarian Trade Unions (CITUB) insists that a debate on changes to the tax system, including an increase in the dividend tax and profit tax, should be launched during the preparation of the 2027 Budget.
„The European Commission has pointed out that the Bulgarian tax system is regressive and unfair. People with low and middle incomes bear a greater tax and social security burden as a share of their income compared to the richest and entrepreneurs. A cleaning lady on a minimum wage pays more taxes and social security contributions as a percentage of her salary than an entrepreneur with a 20,000 euro salary. We have a lot of work to do to smooth out social imbalances in Bulgaria“, said Kostov.
According to the union, the budget includes overly optimistic capital investment costs.
“Over 9 billion euros capital program. Which gives them reason to believe that they will implement it in just 5 months, given that last year they did no more than 5.8 billion. Even if the municipal projects and PVU are included, it still doesn't work out. Not to mention that there is an increase in the cost of living of 1.5 billion, which is 36%, given that the consumption and consumption of individual ministries has not changed much“, said the economist and added “unfortunately, the people who work have suffered, and with this budget there is no increase in their purchasing power, not to mention that it will decrease, since inflation continues to grow and will not remain at this level until the end of the year“.
Lyuboslav Kostov stated that the union will not accept changes in the current mechanism for determining the minimum wage before a new one is agreed upon.
“We insist that no one touch Art. 244 of the Labor Code with derogations, freezing, change, before there is an alternative mechanism. You can't remove something before you've figured out what to replace it with," he stressed.
According to him, the CITUB is ready to participate in the talks on a new model, which the government plans to start in August. "According to the current legislation, the minimum wage should reach around 700 euros from January 1, 2027. Anything below this amount would mean a reduction compared to the current formula," Kostov said.