Budget 2026 – the first task of the new Bulgarian government

Rumen Radev – the country's former president and current leader of "Progressive Bulgaria" party that won parliamentary majority in the elections on April 19 will be the new prime minister of Bulgaria. On May 7, he accepted from President Iliana Iotova the first exploratory mandate for the formation of a regular government within the framework of the 52nd National Assembly and immediately returned the folder with specific proposals for the structure of the Council of Ministers. He recalled that for 9 years as president, together with Iliana Iotova as vice president, they had handed over 27 mandates for the formation of a government, most of which in the past five years:

"After all these years of political instability, fragile coalitions and short-lived governments, Bulgarian citizens spoke out in the last elections and put an end to the political crisis. With their votes, they demonstrated their will for stable institutions, for freedom, democracy and justice, by giving a parliamentary majority to a political force. This is a huge trust, but for us at Progressive Bulgaria it is an exceptional responsibility, which we accept and prove with tireless work and dedication. In our entire democratic history in recent decades, there has been no other government formed so quickly immediately after the elections," Radev pointed out upon receiving the mandate.

Rumen Radev presents cabinet lineup

He assured that his team is already working on policies with a long-term horizon, in order to guarantee "the modern accelerated development of the country, the security and well-being of Bulgarian citizens." But the future prime minister also brought urgent tasks to the forefront.

“First of all, let's break the trend of galloping prices, no matter how difficult it is,” Radev pointed out to the president and the journalists present. “Then, of course, restoring justice, electing a new Supreme Judicial Council and its Inspectorate. The budget for the year has an extremely large number of question marks and I hope that as soon as possible we will understand what a ‘hidden deficit’ means and what dimensions it has. We should not lose the payments under the Recovery and Resilience Plan."

The future Prime Minister Rumen Radev is placing his closest associates - Galab Donev, Dimitar Stoyanov and Ivo Hristov, on key positions in the proposed government, journalist Veselin Stoynev commented immediately after the names in the government became known. The significant presence of women in Radev's proposed cabinet is also impressive - five out of a total of 18 ministries will be led by women. It is curious that two of the four deputy prime ministers do not have specific portfolios.

"All responsibility and all hopes are concentrated in this huge credit of trust, which is now materializing in the government. So, whatever the justifications for some bad legacy, they will not have serious weight in society. And they will not provide grounds for measures that will turn out to be pro-inflationary instead of anti-inflationary," the journalist says.

Adopting a state budget is a top priority, nominated Minister of Finance and Deputy Prime Minister Galab Donev said upon leaving the meeting with President Iliana Iotova, and added: "The state needs a financial plan that shows the priorities for development."

The future budget must be prepared on the basis of a serious sectoral analysis and the policies in the management program of "Progressive Bulgaria", Lyubomir Karimanski, a member of the BNB Governing Council, said in an interview for the BNR program "Horizont".

He warned that Bulgaria is entering the preparation of the budgets for 2026 and 2027 with an alarming deficit of 1.4% for the first four months of this year and growing public sector spending. According to him, the new government must first control spending and not rely on new debt. He insists on eliminating the so-called automatisms - wage increases in some sectors (tied to the minimum or average wage), because they "make the budget powerless". Karimanski proposes optimizing the administration and stricter fiscal discipline. According to him, the 2027 budget should be completely new and tied to a clear management program and sectoral reforms.

"We need very strong measures, very strong actions right from the start. When there are such expectations from society, we must respond immediately. I would not start with a loan, I would start with measures to control the expenditures. Let us strive for the debt ceiling to be lower," Lyubomir Karimanski said.

Compiled by: Elena Karkalanova