Radan Kanev, leader of Democrats for a Strong Bulgaria (DSB) and an MEP, has submitted a question to the European Commission about payments into the second pillar of the pension system. The party said he wants to know whether the Radev government has proposed moving part of the money in personal pension accounts to the National Social Security Institute (NSSI).

The issue became public on Tuesday. Konstantin Prodanov, chair of the budget committee, said then that he had not heard of such a plan. The opposition said the government was preparing a partial nationalisation of the second pillar to cover the budget deficit.

Where it began: Prodanov has not heard of a plan for the state to take part of the second pension pillar

The question follows reports that the contribution could be cut by half, from 5% to 2.5%, with the other 2.5 percentage points going to the NSSI.

According to the question, prime minister Rumen Radev and deputy prime minister and finance minister Galab Donev have publicly denied that such a reform is being prepared. Kanev wants to know whether the Commission received a similar proposal along with Bulgaria's 2027 budget plan.

The MEP also asks whether the government or the finance ministry told the Commission about such an intention, and what steps they had planned. He also wants to know whether the Commission has assessed the effect on the budget, on future pensions and on the sustainability of the pension system. Finally, he asks whether the issue was discussed with Commission officials during the European Council on 15-16 October 2026, or in talks on its sidelines.

On Wednesday, 4 November, Democratic Bulgaria called on the prime minister and the finance minister to apologise. The coalition says they lied to the public about the second pillar. Speaking to reporters in the corridors of parliament, Ivaylo Mirchev and Bozhidar Bozhanov showed correspondence from discussions between the Commission and the Bulgarian side on second-pillar contributions.

DSB expects the government to explain clearly what will happen to personal pension contributions and what guarantees there are for budget discipline. The party says the change would cut future income in personal accounts in order to pay the current costs of state social security. DSB says the present financial difficulties do not justify decisions that shift the burden onto future pensioners and taxpayers.

The party had earlier opposed a proposal to drop the national limits on the structural deficit in the Public Finance Act. DSB says scrapping them without equivalent guarantees risks lasting deficits, rising public debt and more costly debt servicing.