Prime minister Rumen Radev and finance minister Galab Donev must apologise in public because they lied about plans for the second pension pillar, Democratic Bulgaria (DB) has said. DB's Ivaylo Mirchev and Bozhidar Bozhanov showed correspondence between the European Commission and the Bulgarian side about pension contributions in the parliament lobby.
On Tuesday, Bozhanov said the government wanted to go after people's pensions. Progressive Bulgaria quickly rejected the claim. The party called it fake news and said nobody had planned or discussed it, and that it would not be in the budget. Today Radev called the reactions of Bulgarian politicians hysterical. He said the topic had not been discussed and the cabinet had never intended to do this.
Earlier on this topic: Radev denied that half of the second pension contribution would go to the National Social Security Institute
The document DB showed is an internal European Commission message dated 15 October. Mirchev said it clearly shows what the government wanted and fully confirms Bozhanov's words.
"Since lying is not good, we now call on prime minister Radev and the finance minister to come out and apologise," Mirchev told journalists. He said the two should have admitted that the topic was discussed, and said it would not happen.
"By putting a hand on people's pensions, the Bulgarian government aims to fill the deficit," Mirchev said. He said the cabinet is paying €108m for two kilometres of motorway to firms that he called a symbol of the previous corruption model.
If the government does not publish all its exchanges with the European Commission, DB will do it, the party warned. It will also set out its full position on every part of the budget, along with a package of measures.
Updated (04.11, 16:54): A document addressed to European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen proposes cutting the contribution to the second pillar from 5% to 3% from 1 January 2027. The contribution to the first pillar would rise by 2 percentage points. That would give the budget €0.8bn in 2027, €0.9bn in 2028 and about €1bn in 2029. The aim is to get out of the excessive deficit procedure and to find money to invest in pan-European transport corridors. The proposal was revised after concerns from European commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis.