The government will set aside 300m euros in the 2027 budget to help families. Labor and social policy minister Natalia Efremova told BNT about the plan. Vulnerable families will also get an inflation check, with payments starting on October 1.
The ministry splits the money into three rough parts: school aid, start-up aid and tax breaks. Family support gets 100m euros, while 200m euros go toward tax breaks. Efremova says families with two children make up the largest group and get the most help, tied to the second child.
The inflation check was set up because of fuel prices and no longer depends only on whether someone owns a car — incomes are being checked again too. The minister also announced wider support for sectors hit by fuel costs, including a cut to the excise duty on propane-butane. She says high fuel prices push up the price of everything.
Before Christmas, people with the lowest incomes will get 50 euros each. The payment comes from a law passed in the final days of the Zhelyazkov government, with the money already set aside in the 2026 budget. "We are now carrying out this law, since we set the money aside in the 2026 budget," Efremova said. The payment is for pensioners, and officials are discussing whether to extend it to families with disabled children and low-income families.
The new way of setting the minimum wage was agreed between employers and unions, with each factor in the formula carrying equal weight. The exact amount will still be set by a decision of the Council of Ministers. The minister called it a compromise — fair to workers and workable for employers. Efremova rejects the idea that this gives the government too much power, saying the cabinet has always been the one to set the minimum wage.
Under the pilot program "I Choose Bulgaria," 2,000 workers came back from abroad for a short stint, and there were more applicants than the program could take. Efremova said this will become a long-term policy, with money set aside for it going forward. She said Bulgaria first needs to train enough workers at home before bringing more Bulgarians back from abroad.
A new platform has also launched, offering online and remote courses to help people upskill. For people with disabilities, the ministry is working with employers and moving toward assessing what work people are able to do.
Lawmakers still need to write rules for platform workers and shared jobs. A package of measures is also ready, covering the use of artificial intelligence, hiring staff by the hour, and letting one person work for two employers at once.
The minister said raising social security contributions is not on the table. Officials are looking at ways to bring undeclared income into the open and raise the cap on income subject to contributions in some sectors. Asked how the National Social Security Institute's deficit is being managed when half of pension money comes from the central budget, Efremova said Bulgaria's low contribution rates are a political choice — meant to keep the economy competitive and draw people out of the shadow economy, which she believes would put the pension system on firmer footing in the long run.
More than eight laws and 56 kinds of social benefits already exist, the minister said, which is why the debate over whether it's time for a single social protection code will drag on. She said a decision will only come after hearing from everyone affected.