Bulgaria must develop a national industrial strategy that outlines the paths for industrial development over the next few years, because, unfortunately, have no vision for development—neither in industry nor in energy—the two most important sectors. This was stated on the program “Bulgaria, Europe, and the World in Focus” on Radio FOCUS: Ognyan Atanasov, Vice President of the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria (KNSB) and a member of the ESC from the Trade Unions Group. He provided details on the position paper titled “Reindustrialization of Bulgaria—Challenges and Opportunities,” which was adopted at the Council’s most recent plenary session . In it, the ESC draws conclusions and makes relevant recommendations.
Over the past 3–4 years, Bulgaria has seen a decline in industrial production, and this decline has been particularly severe in the last 3 years alone.
“Nevertheless, the industry continues to account for over 21% of the country’s GDP, which is significantly above the EU average—around 13–14%,” said Atanasov, who is also the rapporteur for the ESC opinion.
Atanasov noted that, under the Industrial Development Acceleration Act, the EU has set a goal for industry to account for 20% of the EU’s GDP by 2030.
“Bulgaria has already surpassed this threshold, which, according to traditional economic criteria, means that our country can still be classified as an industrialized nation,” he explained.
However, the country has the fastest rate of decline in industrial production, and this trend is directly linked to job losses. “In the 2019–2023 period alone, more than 104,000 jobs were lost in the country, and in 2024, the industry lost another 13,000 or so,” noted Ognyan Atanasov.
“In recent months, we have also witnessed the closure of a number of major companies, primarily in the automotive sector. This is largely a result of the overall decline in the automotive industry in Europe,” Atanasov added.
