The EU Council has opened an excessive deficit procedure against Bulgaria. It also adopted a recommendation to Bulgaria, which outlines the net spending plan and the schedule that must be followed in order to end the excessive deficit by 2029, NOVA reports.
Previously, Finance Minister Galab Donev announced that the current financial reality is a deficit of 7.4% if current policies are maintained and without taking measures to consolidate state spending - over 8.5 billion euros.
According to him, an additional 2.2 billion leva of unpaid expenses are added to them - funds for already invoiced but unpaid activities. He defined them as “expenses hidden in drawers“, which are only now coming to light.
Bulgaria was placed in the same procedure in July 2010, and in June 2012 the EU Council reported that the grounds had fallen away and terminated the additional surveillance of our country.
Previously, Finance Minister Galab Donev announced that the financial reality at the moment is a deficit of 7.4% if current policies are maintained and without taking measures to consolidate state spending - over 8.5 billion euros.
According to him, another 2.2 billion leva of unpaid expenses are added to them - funds for already invoiced but unpaid activities. He described them as “expenditures hidden in drawers“ that are only now coming to light.
Bulgaria was placed in the same procedure in July 2010, and in June 2012 the EU Council recognized that the grounds had disappeared and terminated the additional surveillance of our country.
On June 3, the European Commission recommended that Bulgaria be placed in an excessive deficit procedure. It provides for enhanced monitoring of budget expenditures and measures to restore indicators where deviations have been identified.
Another 10 EU countries are in the same procedure - Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Italy, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Romania, and with today's decisions, Germany, Estonia, Latvia and Slovenia are added to the list.
In an assessment of our country in a 142-page report, the EC reported that the deficit of the consolidated state budget amounted to 3.5 percent of GDP in 2025 and is expected to increase further and remain above 4 percent by 2027, including due to the planned defense spending.
After years of fiscal discipline, Bulgaria has been reporting deficits since 2020, with debt growing faster, the assessment shows. The decision to initiate the procedure is voted on by the EU Council.
The reason is the reported budget deficit for 2025, which exceeds the permissible threshold of 3% of gross domestic product set out in European fiscal rules. Such a development would place Bulgaria under stricter financial supervision by European institutions and would require the preparation of a plan to limit the deficit.
The procedure provides for regular monitoring of public finances and specific recommendations for stabilizing the budget. In case of continued non-compliance with the requirements, additional measures are possible, including financial sanctions and restrictions on access to certain European funds.
Previously, Finance Minister Galab Donev announced that the financial reality at the moment is a deficit of 7.4% if current policies are maintained and without taking measures to consolidate state spending - over 8.5 billion euros.
According to him, an additional 2.2 billion leva of unpaid expenses are added to them - funds for already invoiced but unpaid activities. He defined them as “expenditures hidden in drawers“, which are only now coming to light.
Bulgaria was placed in the same procedure in July 2010, and in June 2012 the EU Council recognized that the grounds had ceased to exist and terminated the additional surveillance of our country.
The excessive deficit procedure is a mechanism of the European Union through which it monitors whether member states comply with the rules on budgetary discipline.
It is applied when a given country has:
For eurozone countries, financial sanctions may also be imposed in the event of systematic non-compliance.