Bulgarian parliament defence committee to review 2026 budget

The Bulgarian parliamentary defence committee will examine the draft budget for the coming year. The proposal allocates roughly €2.57 billion to defence, aiming for spending equal to 2.15 % of GDP and rising to 2.55 % by 2028.

Around €1.3 billion is earmarked for personnel costs and about €870 million for capital expenditures. The defence sector budget includes an additional €80.9 million increase, while the ministry’s wage budget is set to grow by €60 million compared with 2025. Defence Minister Dimitar Stoyanov noted that military salaries will be frozen for 2026, as the automatic salary formula—based on average second‑quarter wages from the previous year—will remain unchanged. The freeze follows a dispute with the finance ministry over the removal of the automatic adjustment mechanism and is intended to help reduce the army’s non‑combat‑ready rate from roughly 22‑24 % to 20 %.

The committee’s discussion will address these allocations and the broader goal of aligning defence spending with the government’s GDP‑share targets.