In 2023, together with my colleague MP Martin Dimitrov, we get in touch with the Ministry of Finance, concerned about the budget. Then the team was the same - Rositsa Velkova, Lyudmila Petkova in the Ministry of Finance, and Galab Donev as acting prime minister. They tell us - things are very bad, the deficit is 6-7%. We ask - can we see the numbers, they said - we will present them to you in general - unpaid invoices, hidden expenses, the same as today. Then the acting Minister of Finance Rositsa Velkova said that the state was on the verge of bankruptcy, and after a few months the regular government adopted a budget with a 3% deficit, finishing the year at 2%. So either the one who made the calculation at 6-7% did it maliciously, or Asen Vassilev as the regular Minister of Finance after that and the so-called assembly were brilliant. The truth is that the government of Nikolay Denkov was responsible, unlike the acting one of Galab Donev, which exploited people's fears. This was commented on the air of Darik Radio by Ivaylo Mirchev regarding the proposals of "Progressive Bulgaria"; draft Budget 2026. Here are more highlights from his interview:
Perhaps Galab Donev has now been misled, because finances are not his narrow specialty. They should withdraw this budget and propose a budget with a 3% deficit and a 3-year budget forecast with a zero deficit at the end of the period.
The capital expenditures in the proposed budget are 10 billion euros, 1 billion have been spent since the beginning of the year, there is no way to absorb 9 billion by the end of the year. At least 2-4 billion cannot be paid, outside of what was agreed upon under the PVP. In addition, over 1 billion on top is the maintenance for the administration - no one says where this money comes from. And with the requested external debt, we will only pay 1 billion for interest.
Zhan Videnov's budget 30 years ago was adopted with a 3% deficit, then it became much higher. Even when Corpbank went bankrupt and billions had to be poured in, the deficit was much lower than Galab Donev's. Either it's about mistakes, or a malicious effort to help specific municipalities and specific companies.
This is not a budget of reforms. Even the measure for civil servants to pay their own insurance provides for the injection of more money. The Eurozone is not the cause of inflation, but the money poured in by the “Zhelyazkov” cabinet - for the Ministry of Internal Affairs, etc. Now the “Radev” cabinet has increased the maximum social security income, which hits companies with high added value, and in the middle of the year - this is not done when companies have already made their budgets for 2026. When money is poured in without reforms, there is inflation and people do not become richer, on the contrary.
The sharp increase in debt increases the amounts for citizens, this is even an indirect increase in taxes. None of our right-wing measures have been adopted, except for the insurance of civil servants, but they adopted it ineffectively - the amount on which civil servants are insured is increasing. There is not a single difference from the GERB-DPS budget, even the expenses are now greater. I hope that there is sense in the Council of Ministers to review what they have created.
Between 20 and 40 percent of the money in healthcare flows into the same group of companies and individuals. Now they don't even change the facade - we demanded the resignation of Momchil Mavrov, now they are putting his accomplice Asen Medzhidiev, and the head of the parliamentary health committee is Kostadin Angelov. They have 600 million euros more for healthcare, with the same leaks. What is the healthcare reform? Young doctors are on minimum wage, they clean toilets, they work in 2-3 places. There are as many as 6 billion in healthcare, which enriches a small group of people.
“Progressive Bulgaria” was supposed to break this corruption model and be destroyed. However, we see a partial replacement of the facade, and underneath the network of companies continues with the same people and the same practices. Healthcare, where absolutely nothing has changed, describes it best.
They steal from both guardrails and markings. There are almost no markings anywhere on the Sofia-Varna road. In “Yes, Bulgaria” we are conducting a detailed investigation into the replacement of the guardrails, which should be replaced every 10 years, but to a large extent this is fictitious. We will develop this topic in the coming days.
The A and B of politics is that major reforms are made at the beginning of the government, regardless of whether you have 131 or 60 deputies. This is not even a question of courage, but of political sanity.
In two months, couldn't they check Peevski's money - through the Commercial Register and his declarations in the CPC, which we did a long time ago? Peevski is the showcase of what is happening in the country. When we say Peevski, we pay attention to healthcare and roads. It's the same there, the names are just not as well known. In Varna, for example, volume 3 of the 1944 property cadastre is disappearing, as our MPs Stella Nikolova and Bozhidar Bozhanov revealed. This trail leads to Dido Dankata - we are not talking about Peevski here, but the story is the same. The choice before the PB is to really try to destroy this model or to replace Borisov and Peevski with other people in this model. So far, I don't see any real steps to destroy the model.
The Russian Patriarch Kirill is a KGB agent. And instead of being a preacher of peace as the leader of the Orthodox Church, he consecrates missiles and weapons and justifies the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Putin is using the church in an unprecedented way. Sanctions, in addition to economic, also have a symbolic meaning, because it is very important which side in the war you stand on. Bulgaria must behave with dignity, and it is dignified to support the victim of aggression, whoever it may be.
Ukraine is now almost managing on the front line itself. In Iran, the US launched twice as many missiles in two weeks than it provided to Ukraine in 4 years. In Brussels, the biggest wonder right now is who will succeed Orban. There were politicians in our country who invited Orban, who were also very happy about Trump, and now this enthusiasm is gone. It is unacceptable that Bulgaria demonstrates closeness to the Kremlin, using Russian support for Orthodoxy. Bulgaria must have a synchronized position with the European one. Romania and Greece are also Orthodox, but they know the true role of the Russian Patriarch.
We did not believe that it was possible to close the Commission on Dossiers with transitional and final provisions through the budget. The story with the State Security is not over. The influence that the State Security and its networks have is similar and continues to exist. The whole truth must be known, to know what these people have been doing. And although it is belated, we must close this page. The Commission on Dossiers is not effective, it can be reformed, but not closed. We cannot start cleanly, because there are many unhealed wounds in society.
The trust that the people gave to the PB is to make the necessary reforms. We do not know when else Bulgaria will have such a chance with such a majority for reforms. The PB went to the elections with a rather right-wing program, but in these nearly two months in power it has shown nothing in the way of steps to implement its preliminary requests.