The Constitutional Court's ruling on the 2026 budget sets a dangerous precedent, because any future budget could run whatever deficit the government decides, says Temenuzhka Petkova of the GERB-SDS parliamentary group. She spoke at a briefing in parliament.
The court announced its decision on Tuesday. It did not strike down the whole 2026 State Budget Act, and it rejected the request on paragraph 46 of the transitional and final provisions. It found only two sets of changes unconstitutional: those to Article 355, paragraphs 1–4 of the Labour Code, which cover the "freeze" on the minimum wage and the counting of years of service, and those to Article 218, paragraph 2 of the Judiciary Act. The case was opened on requests from MPs and other institutions.
The previous development: Constitutional Court keeps 2026 budget but strikes down minimum wage freeze
Petkova, a former finance minister, said the ruling carries a very serious risk for how the deficit is set. In her words, it "in practice opens Pandora's box, because it says: from now on, any budget can run whatever deficit the government sees fit".
"I am not surprised by the court's decision, because half of its members were personally picked by Rumen Radev as president," she added.
Petkova said that if the court had declared the whole law unconstitutional, the government would have had to resign. She said not a single opinion from a university law professor backs the stance of the ruling Progressive Bulgaria and the government in defending the budget.
The request to scrap the whole law rested on a claim that it grossly breaks the public finance law, and with it the principle of the rule of law. Petkova said the court confirms GERB's view that there was a breach, but holds that parliament must fix it. To do that, the ruling party would have to bring the budget law back to parliament, and it flatly refuses, she said. Petkova believes that an annual budget law which breaks the organic law also breaks the basic constitutional principle of the rule of law.
On the day of the briefing, parliament again lacked a quorum for an extraordinary sitting. Petkova said the question of why should go to Progressive Bulgaria, which she says does not want publicity.