Bulgaria to withdraw 2026 budget package after protests

Sofia, Nov 27 Bulgarian Prime Minister Rossen Zhelyazkov announced on Thursday that the Cabinet will withdraw the 2026 budget package after a protest was held against the plan outside Parliament on Wednesday, local media reported.

The National Assembly had approved budget's first reading on November 21. Zhelyazkov made the announcement after his meeting with representatives of the parliamentary groups supporting his minority Cabinet. He said that the government would seek to resume dialogue with employer associations, trade unions and opposition parties on the budget, Bulgaria-based The Sofia Globe reported.

He did not mention any timeline for when the budget will be presented again in the National Assembly. However, he said that "there is enough time in December" to hold the dialogue and remove “the defects” in the draft budget.

Zhelyazkov's government tabled the budget without holding consultative meetings with trade unions and employer associations after the latter did not participate in the meetings as they were against the budget's proposed revenue-raising measures, particularly the rise in the social security contributions and the capital gains tax increase.

Opposition We Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria has welcomed government's decision to withdraw the budget. However, pro-Russian Vuzrazhdane has demanded continued protests and the resignation of the Zhelyazkov-led government.

Several thousand Bulgarians participated in the protest organised by opposition coalition We Continue the Change – Democratic Bulgaria in the centre of Bulgaria's capital, Sofia, against the government’s budget 2026. The protest was among the largest witnessed in Sofia in recent years, The Sofia Globe reported.

The protest was scheduled to start at 6 pm on Wednesday. However, participants gathered near Parliament and the Presidency before the scheduled time, to watch live video streaming of MPs processing the second reading of the budget in committee.

The protest organisers said that the rise in social security contributions, the doubling of the tax on dividends, and disagreement with the introduction of special electronic accounting devices for businesses as the main reason for the protests against the budget.

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