"Progressive Bulgaria" demands an audit of pension, supplement and administration expenses, including the application of the Swiss rule, in the period from 2020 to May 2026. This was announced at a briefing in the National Assembly by the party.
A draft decision has been submitted to assign the audit to the National Audit Office, which is expected to be discussed in the budget committee in parliament on Tuesday. The audits will be carried out at the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy and the National Social Security Institute. Another draft decision will also assign an audit of the budgets from 2020 to May 2026, BNT reported.
The National Audit Office will also have to present an audit of the expenditures made by the Road Infrastructure Agency.
"We have made a commitment to Bulgarian citizens to conduct a full fiscal audit. We are relying on an institutional and professional approach, not on the creation of a commission, because it often has a PR effect, commented the chairman of the budget committee in the National Assembly, Konstantin Prodanov.
The purpose of the audit is not a "witch hunt". This is a dissection of public finances, he added.
"From 2020 to May 2026, an audit of public finances should be conducted. The aim is to examine personnel costs, decisions to increase the administration and why labor policies do not compensate for the costs," said Stefan Belchev, Chairman of the Economic Policy Committee.
The deadline for the inspections is September 30.
The initiative of "Progressive Bulgaria" has three main goals:
Insurance against the deficit: The PB prepares public opinion for possible unpopular fiscal measures, shifting responsibility onto the "legacy" from the Covid crisis and the subsequent turbulent political years. Attack on social populism: Spotting the spotlight on the National Social Security Institute and applying the "Swiss rule" is a bold but dangerous move. The audit of pension spending will attempt to scientifically prove what economists have been whispering for a long time - that the pre-election bidding with pensions and supplements has brought the model to a structural collapse. The administrative absurdity: Putting the bloated state administration under scrutiny is a direct blow to the clientelistic networks of previous administrations.
The big risk facing this initiative is the time trap.
The Court of Auditors was given a deadline of September 30. To conduct a deep and high-quality dissection of three huge megastructures in less than three months borders on science fiction.
If the audit skims the surface, “Progressive Bulgaria“ will simply receive another folder of bureaucratic findings that will quickly sink into the archives.
But if the Court of Auditors really shows character, the fall of 2026 could begin with severe political and judicial upheavals. Until then, however, the government has successfully bought time - the most scarce commodity in Bulgarian politics.