If civil servants start paying their own insurance, what is the point of the Civil Servant Act then, since it will only leave them with harm and no benefits. If we see this in the budget today, we will obviously not be satisfied and we will prepare reactions. This was stated by the President of the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria (CITUB) Plamen Dimitrov at a press conference. He said that he was making his comment on the public debate and intentions of the executive branch and part of the opposition regarding the insurance contributions of civil servants. CITUB opposes the approach and the way in which this is being served to us, Dimitrov announced. And he stressed that the unions expect serious consultations and assessments of the proposals regarding civil servants.
If the government is moving in this direction, we quite calmly and officially propose to consider repealing the Civil Servant Act and for everyone to go through employment relations and have the rights to association, collective bargaining, strike, additional work, wherever they decide, Dimitrov also said.
The President of the Confederation of Bulgarian Trade Unions said that civil servants do not have the powers that those working in the non-public sector have. They do not have the right to additional labor negotiations, effective strike actions are prohibited, they are not paid for their time served, additional material incentives are not paid in all administrations, he listed.
According to Dimitrov, the Ministry of Finance is expected to publish the draft budget for 2026 on its website at around 4:00 p.m.
The budget for 2026 must address the most pressing problems of all economic entities - households, businesses, projects through the capital program. This was stated by the chief economist of the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria (CITUB) Lyuboslav Kostov to journalists. According to him, the union expects the budget in the middle of the year to be aimed at the social imbalances caused by market prices, which lead to a loss of purchasing power.
Personnel costs should be at least another 5%, since 5% has already been given, said Kostov. “We don't want money for everyone, we want enough money for personnel“, he added.
Tales like the one that the minimum wage can be frozen are untenable, Kostov also commented. He stressed that consultations should begin as soon as possible on an adequate mechanism for determining the minimum wage, based on the cost of living.
The deficit will most likely be over 3%, but this is not a problem, Kostov also said. He pointed out that other member states also have a deficit of over three percent.
Earlier today, Prime Minister Rumen Radev announced that the deficit set in the draft state budget for 2026 will be over 3%.