Government rules out revising planned 5.7% budget deficit

Prime Minister Rumen Radev ruled out revising the government's projected budget deficit of 5.7% of GDP this year in a video message from Paris, saying it had been inherited from the previous administration. He said the government aimed to reduce the deficit in next year's budget, which it expects to finalise within the next few months.

Commenting on the European Union's excessive deficit procedure against Bulgaria, Radev said it was a standard mechanism applied to many EU member states.

"I will not accept criticism, nor will I take advice from parties that drove the country into financial crisis and left it with this excessive deficit. We will do everything possible to reduce it, and we will do it the right way," he said.

• Council of the Europen Union opens excessive deficit procedure for Bulgaria

Radev said the 2027 budget would be "a strong argument" against imposing sanctions on Bulgaria under the excessive deficit procedure.

Prime Minister Radev is in Paris, where President Emmanuel Macron has invited European leaders for talks on continued support for Ukraine and the annual Bastille Day celebrations.

Editor: Diana Tsankova

Edited and posted in English by E. Radkova