Parents to stage fresh protests over maternity benefits

The civic initiative Parents for Decent Maternity will stage another round of protests in several Bulgarian cities on Tuesday evening, calling for higher maternity benefits and greater support for families with young children.

The protesters want second-year maternity benefits to be set at 70% of a recipient's insured income, with a guaranteed minimum no lower than the statutory minimum wage.

"This is about survival. We are literally surviving from month to month. Four hundred euros is barely enough to raise one child, and that's only if the child doesn't get sick," Ivanka Todorova, a representative of the initiative, told Bulgarian National Radio.

The group is also calling for annual indexation of maternity benefits and child allowances, higher compensation for working mothers, and increased payments for families whose children are unable to secure a place at a state-run nursery or kindergarten.

The protesters have described the draft 2026 state budget as "scandalous" and said they hope the President will veto it if their demands are not met.

Editor: Diana Tsankova