The bill for amendment and addition to the so-called extension budget law was adopted today at the second reading by the Budget and Finance Commission of the National Assembly. The meeting was chaired by the deputy chairman of the commission, Krasimir Vatchev, as chairman Delyan Dobrev was absent.
At the beginning of the meeting, the acting Minister of Finance Georgi Klisurski addressed the members of the commission with an appeal that the extension law not be used to implement tax policies and income policies, since this puts the stability of public finances in the country at risk. He emphasized that most proposals for amendments and additions to the law entered between the first and second readings are laying additional expenditures without compensatory revenue mechanisms.
"In the conditions of an extension budget, this only and exclusively increases the deficit," said Klisurski, calling for the bill to be adopted in a version as close as possible to the texts submitted by the acting cabinet.
The topic of prolonged debate, which ended with a 15-minute recess to clarify different positions, became the requests of the National Association of Municipalities in the Republic of Bulgaria that municipal councils could exceed expenditures (after a decision of the municipal council for capital expenditures) for the current year above the amount of expenditures for the same period from the transition year, financing them including with available funds from previous years.
- The bill submitted by the acting cabinet provides mayors of municipalities to have the possibility to finance expenditures for local activities in amounts greater than the expenditures for the same period of the previous year, up to the amount of the municipality's own income for the respective period.
- Between the first and second readings there were three proposals in the direction of allowing municipalities to spend funds from past periods submitted between the first and second readings by GERB-SDS, " BSP-United Left" and "DPS-New Beginning".
- The acting Minister of Finance Georgi Klisurski pointed out that the financial department also has its own proposal on how municipalities could finance their capital expenditures, which was accepted by PP-DB and submitted between the two readings by them.
After a 15-minute recess, the deputies agreed to accept all proposals in favor of the municipalities with the clarification that the Ministry of Finance and the association of municipalities will clarify the final version of these texts, which will be considered at the second vote in the plenary hall of the National Assembly. All proposals received approval from the commission, except for the accepted proposal of the financial department from PP-DB.
- Approval was also given to a proposal between the first and second readings submitted by Delyan Dobrev from GERB-SDS, which provides that the Council of Ministers issue state guarantees in the amount of nearly 91.9 million euros for financing the expansion of "Bulgartransgaz" gas transmission infrastructure in connection with the implementation of the Vertical Gas Corridor, which connects Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Ukraine and Moldova.
- The Commission rejected a proposal by Yordan Tzanev from "DPS-New Beginning" for the Commission on Energy and Water Regulation to receive a transfer in the amount of 6.5 million euros, which would serve as compensation for the expenses that consumers would have if they wanted their electricity meters checked for accuracy in the context of signals about high electricity bills.
- Approved were proposals by representatives of "BSP-United Left", "DPS-New Beginning" and GERB-SDS providing that recipients of compensations to cover expenditures for electricity from the "Electricity System Security Fund" could also be allowed for street lighting in streets and squares.
- Approved was also a proposal submitted between the first and second readings by Martin Dimitrov from PP-DB, providing for an extension of the term until the end of 2026 year within which all family benefits under the Law on Family Benefits for Children are paid only in the form of funds.
- Rejected were proposals submitted by Pavela Mitova and a group of people's representatives from "There is such a People", which provided for reducing the state subsidy to parties for one received vote to 1 leva, equating the minimum size of salaries of medical specialists up to 125 percent of the average salary and payment of monthly compensations to assist a number of sectors, among them the transport sector, urban transport, kindergartens, agricultural sector, etc., due to high fuel prices.
- Among other rejected proposals from representatives of "There is such a People" were increasing the threshold for registration of companies by VAT to 100,000 euros and increasing the threshold of amounts that can be paid in cash up to 10,000 euros.
In regard to the multitude of proposals submitted between the first and second readings, acting finance minister Georgi Klisurski again appealed to deputies to leave tax policy for a regular budget.
"Currently, proposals are made for a new regular budget in the last two days of the National Assembly. I would recommend rather that we give a chance to the new National Assembly to draft a regular budget," he said.
In accordance with the proposal by Yordan Tzanev from "DPS-New Beginning", the budget commission approved texts providing for commercial banks here to obtain from the National Revenue Agency through the Information System for Exchange of Reference and Certification Information (REGIX), data from the Register of Employment, as well as data on insured persons, including personal data and tax and insurance information for the purposes of creditworthiness assessment.
The bill for amendment and addition to the Law on Collection of Revenues and Expenditures in 2026 until adoption of the Budget Law of the Republic of Bulgaria for 2026, the Budget Law of the State Social Insurance Fund for 2026 and the Budget Law of the National Health Insurance Fund for 2026 provides for the operation of the so-called extension budget to continue until adoption of a regular Budget Law of the Republic of Bulgaria for 2026.