The process of discussing the state budget for 2026 has been put “on pause“ after representatives of employer organizations refused to participate in today's meeting of the National Council for Tripartite Cooperation. The unions were present, but after a while they also left the meeting.
In the “Interview in NOVA News“ The executive director of the Association of Industrial Capital in Bulgaria (AIKB) Dobrin Ivanov and the chief economist of the Confederation of Labor “Podkrepa“ Atanas Katsarchev were unanimous that the main problem in the budget process is the lack of real social dialogue.
“We will enter the hall when a budget is presented to us“, said Dobrin Ivanov.
According to him, employers were invited to participate in a meeting at which a decision had already been “legitimized“.
“The budget was sent to us on Monday at 5:08 p.m., and on Tuesday we were supposed to discuss it in a Commission to the Tripartite Council. Today, we were expected to vote on it and give final proposals. This is not a dialogue and not a communication with the social partners“, Ivanov emphasized.
Atanas Katsarchev also expressed dissatisfaction with the approach of the Ministry of Finance.
“Disrespect has been demonstrated in the adoption of the budget for the past two years and this is unacceptable“, he commented.
Katsarchev pointed out that this budget is distinguished by exceeded revenue forecasts and a lack of transparency in its preparation.
“Such a budget has never been served to us before – "This is a budget without discussion and with unrealistically high revenue expectations," he said, adding that "standard practice would be for the Ministry of Finance to prepare several versions of the budget and to start discussions as early as mid-summer."
"It is wrong to spend money that has not been spent, and the debt should not increase," added Dobrin Ivanov.