Former Finance Minister Assen Vassilev said that the government's proposed budget for 2025 must undergo major changes in its expenditure part, BNT reported.
Vassilev commented on the topic during a meeting with mayors and municipal councilors elected with the list of "We Continue the Change".
According to Assen Vassilev, this budget was made without Finance Minister Lyudmila Petkova making the difficult political decisions:
"What we see in this budget is that a very serious correction is needed first in the expenditure part. Only then can the revenue measures be examined and then we can talk about what the deficit is. When the expenditure part is wrong, from there on everything else is wrong", said Assen Vassilev.
Assen Vassilev also pointed out that if parliamentary committees are not formed by Wednesday at the latest, there is no way the budget will be adopted by the end of the year, and for this reason the municipalities will also have to work with last year's money, but with increased costs.
Vassilev also commented on the energy regulator's proposal to increase the price of electricity for households by an average of 9% from January 1 next year exceptionally, in the middle of the regulatory period:
"In my opinion, it should be seen on what basis KEVR wants to make this increase in the price of electricity. You know that when the Petkov cabinet was elected in 2021, there was such an ill-considered decision by KEVR on the day the cabinet was elected. "Then a moratorium was imposed on the increase and this in no way hindered the stability of the energy system in the country," said the co-chair of "We Continue the Change" Asen Vassilev.