Bulgaria Govt Mulls Scrapping Budget Plan as Protests Rock Sofia
Boyko Borissov, leader of the governing GEGB party, said on Thursday that the current 2026 budget plan will likely be revised following a major protest in Sofia on Wednesday, which saw MPs blocked from leaving parliament.
“I told the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister to drop the budget plan, or make some legal way to stop it, despite it being accepted on first reading [by MPs] – until dialogue is re-established,” Borissov said.
Thousands in Sofia protested against the much disputed budget for next year, chanting insults about lawmakers such as “Thieves!”, “Pigs!” and “Mafia!”
The budget plans tax hikes on private businesses to fund state-sector wage rises, seen as a government tactic to increase its tight grip on state institutions and limit the private sector.
Further protests and actions have been threatened, and it remains to be seen whether calls to revise the budget will calm the situation.
Protesters and police clashed at several points in the streets, but there was no major escalation. As the crowd gradually dispersed by 11 p.m., police set off tear gas, which caused some to return. Protesters also formed a human chain preventing governing coalition MPs from leaving the parliament building until after midnight.
Earlier in the evening, protesters gathered in the square connecting the parliament chamber, the Ministerial Council and the Presidency, colloquially known as the Triangle of Power, and blocked traffic.
The rally in the square was sparked by the commission approving the budget on second reading, which gathered during a session break in the afternoon and excluded opposition representatives from attending – in the presence of armed officers.
As protesters flocked into the square, police started blocking the surrounding streets to prevent others from gathering. They in turn surrounded and blocked access to police vehicles.
The protest is being led by the allied opposition parties We Continue the Change and Democratic Bulgaria, which are also leading the current demonstrations in support of jailed Varna mayor Blagomir Kotsev, whose trial is widely seen as an act of political repression by the ruling coalition.
The ruling coalition – constituting the centre-right GERB, the pro-Russian Bulgarian Socialist Party and the nationalist There’s Such a People, with the support of New Beginning, led by the tycoon Delyan Peevski – has downplayed the significance of the rallies.
On Thursday, Borissov noted that he hadn’t even thought of speaking to the protesters as his favourite football team, Real Madrid, was playing that night.
The 2026 budget doubles the dividend tax on private businesses to fund a rise in public-sector wages. The changes are widely seen to be a way for the coalition to satisfy loyal voters in the public sector.
State workers, police, military personnel, teachers in state schools, welfare workers and pensioners all stand to benefit. In Bulgaria, more than 558,000 people work in state-owned structures, according to the National Statistical Institute.
Democratic Bulgaria MP Ivaylo Mirchev on Wednesday called the current budget a “war on the middle class”.
Culture workers, artists and managers meanwhile also protested on Thursday against various delays in government-supported grants and the lack of any funds for the culture sector in the 2026 budget, leaving independent venues and collectives in doubt over their future.
