(December 8, 2025)

Mass protests over Bulgaria’s 2026 budget have plunged the country into yet another political crisis, with Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov’s minority government facing a no-confidence vote, a mass petition demanding its resignation and the prospect of an eighth early parliamentary election in five years.

The dispute comes just weeks before Bulgaria is due to adopt the euro on 1st January 2026 and risks overshadowing what was intended to be a landmark step in the country’s European integration.