With Iliyana Yotova and her team, we discussed the three groups of motives with which we requested a veto on the State Budget Law. This was said by the leader of “We Continue the Change” Assen Vassilev after the meeting held at the president's office.
"The first group includes 4 unconstitutional provisions. The first is the suspension of the disability pension without a court order or indictment. The second - the deprivation of the rights of employees when accumulating work experience without reasons, impact assessment and prior public discussion and with uncertainty about how the provision will affect full-time employees, since hourly measurement of work experience is being introduced. The third is that the legal mechanism for determining the minimum wage is suspended, it is frozen at 620 euros, without specifying an alternative mechanism. According to a European directive, there should be one. Fourth - the linking of the salaries of magistrates to those of deputies. Salaries in the judicial system must be determined according to objective criteria, and those of members of parliament are the most politically dependent and certainly do not obey objective criteria," explained Vassilev.
He was categorical that if a veto is not imposed on the budget, the formation will file an objection with the Constitutional Court, because they believe that these provisions are unconstitutional.
The next group of arguments is related to the lack of predictability, explained the leader of “Continue the Change”. One is related to the payment of teachers. Vassilev stressed that this year, for the first time in 8 years, there are not enough funds and the Ministry of Education and Science will violate an already signed collective labor agreement regarding pay levels. “This opens up the possibility of the state being sued”, he said. Another provision related to predictability concerns funds for science, Vassilev said. And he explained that for the remaining months until the end of the year, less than 3 million euros remain for science, which practically means that “there will be no funds”. Regarding the reduction of subsidies for religious denominations by 25%, the MP noted that this also reduces the principle of predictability. “Last but not least, the State Budget Act lacks texts on the National Children's Hospital”, he also emphasized.
The last group of problems related to the State Budget Act are related to the lack of transparency and balance, Vassilev commented. There is no planned increase in funds for municipal, regional hospitals and remote areas, the MP said. And he stressed that the budget could have included money for young doctors. Vassilev also said that the State Budget Act includes capital expenditures of 3.114 billion euros, and the described expenditures are worth 1.435 billion euros. “That is, there are almost 1.700 billion euros for which it is not clear how they will be spent, and projects are not described. If they concerned the inherited property, the projects could have been described by contracts and obligations. But there are no such texts. This creates opacity and disrupts the balance”, the PP leader also commented.
See all the reasons for "We Continue the Change" for the requested veto on the Budget:
"I. UNCONSTITUTIONAL PROVISIONS
1. Suspension of the disability pension without a court order or indictment. The adopted text violates the presumption of innocence and the principle of stability of acts - the new Art. 113a of the Health Act — p. 7;
2. Deprivation of rights of employees upon accumulation of work experience without reasons and impact assessment and without prior public discussion. The adopted text falls outside the scope of the State Budget Act, since no financial expressions for 2026 are specified. Inconsistency with the principle of legal certainty, enshrined in Art. 4, para. 1 of the Constitution and with the protection of labor under Art. 16 and Art. 48 of the Constitution, as well as incompatibility with Directive 97/81/EC is - p. 9;
3. Suspension of the statutory mechanism for the minimum wage for 2027 without specifying a replacement mechanism. The adopted text falls outside the scope of the State Budget Act, as there are no financial implications for 2026. Inconsistency with the principle of legal certainty, enshrined in Art. 4, para. 1 of the Constitution and with the protection of labor under Art. 16 and Art. 48 of the Constitution — p. 11;
4. Linking magistrates' and deputies' salaries. The adopted text contradicts basic principles of the independence of the judiciary — p. 12;
II. LACK OF PREDICTABILITY
1. The funds earmarked for the research development strategy, the National Roadmap for Scientific Infrastructure and the national scientific programs for 2025 are 55 million euros, and for 2026 they are 35 million euros. In compliance with the provisions of the Public Finance Act and spending 1/12 of the funds allocated in 2025, the funds spent as of July 1, 2026 amount to 32.083 million euros. This means that from August 1, 2026 to the end of the year, about 2.917 million euros remain. The adopted text makes it impossible to normally implement the commitments already made and creates an immediate risk of effectively suspending a significant part of the activities — p. 14;
2. Reducing the subsidy for religious denominations by 25% from August 1, 2026 without a transitional regime — p. 16;
3. Changing the terms of the three-year municipal program 5 months before its completion without clarity on which projects will be financed, in what order, within what terms the already completed activities will be paid and according to what criteria contracts for new projects will be concluded. — p. 16;
4. No resources are provided for the fulfillment of the obligations of the Ministry of Education and Science under the concluded collective labor agreement for teachers' salaries. Without this resource, the state will violate the provisions of the agreement unilaterally and without notice — p. 17;
5. The funding for the National Children's Hospital is completely absent from Annex No. 2 not only for 2026, but also for 2027 and 2028, which means that it is not provided for in the updated medium-term budget forecast for the period 2026-2028 and in the structural plan submitted to the European Commission— p. 18;
III. LACK OF TRANSPARENCY AND BALANCE
1. The state budget in Art. 1, para. 2, item II.2. provides for 3,114,253.0 thousand euros in capital expenditures, while Annex No. 2 lists projects for only 1,435,469.6 thousand euros. Over 1,678,783 thousand euros in capital expenditures are not described and it is unclear how they will be spent— p. 19;
2. The state budget in Art. 1, para. 2, provides for 3,491,723.5 thousand euros in maintenance expenses. The maintenance expenses of all budget spending units described in Art. 2-50 amount to 1,944,937.1 thousand euros. Over 1,546,786 thousand euros in current maintenance expenses are not described and it is unclear how they will be spent — p. 19;
3. Disturbed balance between the growth of capital expenditures and maintenance, on the one hand, and frozen social payments, on the other. Budget 2026 provides for a growth of capital expenditures by over 60%, as well as a growth of maintenance expenditures by over 35%, and freezes almost all social payments. With over 9.3 billion in annual capital expenditures planned, as of 31.05, expenditures of only 1.8 billion were made — p. 20;
4. With a projected increase in hospital care costs by over 217 million euros, the trust funds for regional hospitals, municipal hospitals, and those in remote areas remain without additional resources. There are no provisions to direct 40 million euros of these 217 million euros to 2 adequate payment of doctors, nurses, and healthcare specialists — p. 22;
In view of all the above, we believe that in order to protect the national interest, it is necessary to return the Law on the State Budget of the Republic of Bulgaria for 2026 for a new discussion according to the established constitutional order."