Although this government may seem political, in 2025 it behaved and worked as a program government, said the outgoing Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov at the beginning of the last cabinet meeting of the year.
Zhelyazkov said that the year was dynamic, complex and important from a geopolitical, European and national agenda. The government was formed with difficulty in a complex coalition with ideological differences, different views on the development of the country, but with a high degree of consensus and trust between the partners in the coalition, as well as in a very dynamic parliamentary support, said the outgoing Prime Minister. He thanked for the good coalition relations, BTA specified.
The outgoing Prime Minister pointed out that the government had very clear tasks for 2025, including financial stabilization, restoration of payments under the Recovery and Resilience Plan, increasing the competitiveness of the economy, and entry into the eurozone. All these commitments for 2025 have been fulfilled, Zhelyazkov said. He said that when the time comes for a sober assessment of the cabinet's work, they believe that these results should be noted. According to Zhelyazkov, they are also due to the efforts of society, the restored tripartite dialogue and the trust of social partners during this period, as well as the support that the government received, regardless of the complex political processes.
The outgoing Prime Minister pointed out that there is no other government that has gone through six votes of no confidence in a complex external and internal political environment within a year. Bulgaria ends the year with a gross domestic product of 113 billion euros with an economic growth of over 3%, which ranks the country among the top 5 countries in the European Union. Bulgaria has not been the poorest country in the EU for a long time, in terms of purchasing power parity we are ahead of countries such as Greece, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia and Lithuania, Zhelyazkov pointed out. According to him, this should be a reason for self-confidence for every Bulgarian. In Bulgaria, the unemployment rate decreases by 0.6% for 2025, compared to 2024. The growth of employed persons increases by 1.6%, there is a record collection rate – over 10 billion leva more revenue from 2024. Inflation is around 3.6%, and the reasons for it have nothing to do with the euro, but are related to the increased purchasing power, with the economy brightening by nearly 4%, said Zhelyazkov.
He called on others to evaluate the government. Let business speak, let carriers speak about the program that we will create for them, because we have a record collection rate in the toll system - over 1 billion. We owe it to Bulgarian carriers to increase their competitiveness with the measures that we will report today, said Zhelyazkov. He also said that in 2026, the rolling stock will move with new trains that were agreed and paid for. In each of the sectors there is something to show and I believe that any next cabinet will build on what has been achieved, because the meaning of evolution is to build, said Rosen Zhelyazkov.