This is not a GERB budget. GERB's last draft budget was for 2021. Now these are budgets that are made in a coalition format and until the political crisis is over - we will have this type of debate about the budget. This means that when you bring together GERB, BSP and ITN - You cannot claim that the budget belongs only to GERB, while at the same time seeking the support of “DPS-New Beginning”, because you are not getting the votes. You have to take into account and look for the intersection of all possible policies that can be intertwined in the draft budget.
This was stated in “Na Fokus” on Nova TV by the Minister of Finance in the period 2014 - 2020 Vladislav Goranov, commenting on the first budget of the state in euros, which was sharply criticized and even defined as “scandalous”.
He recalled that when GERB participated in a coalition with the PP, “leftist policies were proposed by the PP, and they simply followed their pace”. “As far as I listened to Asen Vassilev - he continues with his leftist bias. We had the bad luck of forming this government at the beginning of the year and not being able to tell the whole story that began with the statement of the caretaker minister Lyudmila Petkova about the “hole” of 18 billion leva”, he said.
And he added: “Everything that was included as decisions in the 2025 budget was subordinated to a higher goal – keeping the budget within 3% at the cost of a lot of effort and presenting a positive convergence report by the European Commission and the European Central Bank. And therefore, in less than two months, we will be able to congratulate ourselves on a very successful step for all Bulgarian citizens – the replacement of the lev with the euro and entry into the eurozone”.
Goranov was categorical that Bulgaria's first budget in euros “takes into account the claims of all parties in the coalition”. “There is a certain amount of optimism in the revenue side, but on the other hand, some unpopular measures are imposed that I, as Finance Minister, would not allow and would not accept – for example, the increase in the social security contribution by two percentage points. If it were up to me – and in this case it is not up to me, I would propose a change in indirect taxation”, he said.
And he recalled that it happened in the late 1990s, when Ivan Kostov's government started, that VAT would increase for one or two years. According to him, this creates a certain inflationary burden, but is the most sparing from the point of view of the economy. “After that, the tax returned to its previous levels –there was a moment with 22%, then it returned to 20%, and earlier it was even 18%. Conceptually, I think like this – less burdensome for economic entities is the change in indirect taxation, when this is necessary”, he emphasized.
And he was categorical that he shared this with his colleagues from GERB, But “he did not meet support”. “This is the only possible budget today with all the risks in it. We are moving in a crisis inertia. Undoubtedly, the ambitions for greater collection must continue”, he emphasized.
According to him, the state still has buffers, despite the political crisis. –Such as a deficit of less than 3 percent of GDP. This is the possible budget. It would be nice not to change the tax and social security burden, but with all the unreasonable moves over the years - we have come to the point that something needs to be done now.