Radan Kanev, leader of the DSB party and an MEP from Democratic Bulgaria, has called Bulgaria's stance in talks on the EU's long-term budget absurd, dangerous and impossible to explain. He told reporters in the corridors of parliament.
The government backs a smaller EU budget because it would cut Bulgaria's national contribution. Kanev says this is a mistake. Bulgaria has traditionally been the biggest net beneficiary, meaning the gap between what it pays in and what it gets back is the widest. A smaller budget clearly means less money for the country.
Kanev also thinks it is wrong to keep cohesion and farm funds as they are while sharply cutting money for competitiveness and innovation.
Democratic Bulgaria MPs also criticised the 2027 budget. Martin Dimitrov says the government talks about a deficit of around 3%, but told Brussels 4.3%, which he says is really 5%. Without one-off revenue, such as the windfall tax, next year's deficit is again 5%, he said. Dimitrov says there is no pilot in the plane, and a deficit like this is taking Bulgaria towards a crash.
Dimitrov thinks the only partly positive thing in the report the government sent to the European Commission is the higher VAT registration threshold. The cabinet proposes €75,000, while Democratic Bulgaria asked for €85,000, which would affect 200,000 firms. This is Democratic Bulgaria's policy, and the government's proposal is a "half step", but good news, he said.
Democratic Bulgaria also proposes a fuel rebate of 20 euro cents a litre. The money would come from a windfall tax on the whole oil sector and from extra VAT revenue. Dimitrov says people would then see a real result.
MP Vladislav Panev says the main risk to the budget is the lack of buffers for possible crises. Events in the Black Sea could hurt exports and imports, and through them budget revenue. Panev said a regional crisis "already seems to be taking shape".
He thinks such a crisis would sober up public finances and show who has been "swimming without trunks" over the years since the last two regular governments took office.