The budgets of the State Social Security Fund, the Health Fund and the State Budget were submitted for consideration by the relevant committee in parliament. After the parameters were discussed between the government, unions and business, today they should also go through the first reading in the Budget Committee.
Shortly after noon, the fiscal frameworks of the Social Insurance Institution and the National Health Insurance Fund were adopted in the first reading, Nova TV reports.
After the official meeting of the Tripartite Council, the social partners united and appeared before the media, and immediately afterwards the cabinet approved the budgets, giving the green light for their parliamentary consideration.
The request of the ruling party is that the texts be submitted for discussion in the plenary hall by the end of the week. The expectations are that the first budget in euros will be a fact by the end of this year.
We recall that the minimum wage will be 620 euros, and the maximum social security income will be raised to 2,300 euros. Taxes and social security contributions remain the same at least for next year, and the introduction of the SUPTO system is also canceled. The projected revenues are 50 billion euros, and the expenditures - 54 billion euros. The deficit is 3%.
And this time the meeting of the Budget Committee began with a dispute between the ruling party and the opposition over the quorum.
The social security budget was one of the most controversial in the previous version of the budget plan. The cabinet refused to raise contributions and looked for other sources of revenue.
"In 2025, the revenue part under the State Social Security Budget Law is 7.7 billion euros. For 2026, we have 8.4 billion euros in the project," the National Social Insurance Institute said.
"I made a commitment in March and it has been fulfilled - to increase the benefit for raising a child in the second year of motherhood. And it is being raised from 780 to 900 leva. And another very important thing - the percentages that mothers receive from the benefit if they return to work earlier are being increased - from 50 to 75 percent," said the Minister of Labor and Social Policy Borislav Gutsanov to the deputies of the parliamentary committee on budget and finance.
He pointed out that his ministry had managed to raise the minimum wage, to ensure compliance with the “Swiss rule" and to increase the childcare allowance after the second year of maternity leave after years of freezing its amount.
The Fiscal Council has again issued a critical opinion - the current policy in the National Social Security Institute will inevitably lead to the need to raise the contribution, and soon.
"The increase in expenses for 2026 by 9 percent outpaces the growth rate of revenue from contributions, which is 8.4 percent. This will be reflected in a possible increase in rates and will have a very negative impact on business," believes Bogomil Manov.
Since the increase in contributions is planned for 2027 and 2028, business insists on calculating how many people will pay contributions for at least the next 30 years before calculating the rate.
The deficit for 2025 is 9 billion. And for 2026 it is 12 billion leva. It is clear that we cannot catch up with the revenues. Therefore, we either sharply raise the insurance, or we raise the base on which it is calculated," suggested Maria Mincheva from the Bulgarian Industrial Association.
Here too, the unions reminded that social security is not a business, but social support for citizens. "Social security is a system and all payments are social, it's another matter if we touch something that is not there for that purpose", believes Asya Goneva from the Confederation of Bulgarian Trade Unions.