Following Joint Governance Council: Minimum Wage Proposed at €620 or BGN 1,213

Following a meeting of the Council for Joint Governance, the parameters of the three budgets – for the State Social Security, Health Insurance, and the State Budget – were reviewed. Agreement was reached on the main parameters, with a consensus that these are the only feasible budgets, striking an extremely delicate balance between the differing economic perspectives of experts within our parliamentary groups, the expectations of businesses, trade unions, municipalities, and citizens, and, not least, the careful equilibrium between revenues and expenditures, said Denitsa Sacheva from GERB-UDF.

She added that the budgets will next be reviewed by the National Council for Tripartite Cooperation and are likely to be submitted next week.

Budget 2026: Parliamentary debates ahead of the bill’s submission

“We have taken into account all the opinions, comments, and views expressed so far. The minimum wage to be proposed for consideration at the NCTC will be €620, equivalent to BGN 1,213, reflecting the current Labour Code legislation stipulating that the minimum wage should be 50% of the average. Maternity pay for the second year will be €460, or a nominal BGN 900, representing an almost 15% increase from the current level. It will also be proposed that mothers returning to work during the second year of maternity leave receive 75% of the allowance, up from the current 50%. For municipalities, €980 million has been allocated for capital and investment programmes. More details will be shared next week, when we in the National Assembly will receive the budget to review it in detail and proceed with its adoption,” Denitsa Sacheva said.