News from Bulgaria, page 8

On 4 September 2026 Nesebar municipal council, by decision No. 789, permitted the drafting of a detailed development plan for plot 39164.13.63 in the Drakta locality near Kosharitsa. The 22,876 square metres move from agricultural use into urbanised territory, the purpose being a 50 megawatt electricity storage facility. The legal basis is Art. 21 (1) 11 of the Local Self-Government Act and Art. 124a (1) of the Spatial Development Act. At the same session, decision No. 783 approved the acquisition of a ten-year easement for reconstructing the water main from the Kosharitsa-Kuchkarnika pumping station to the Hanska Shatra reservoir: 4,047 euro for plot 51500.200.8, 2,061 euro for 51500.201.227 and 833 euro for 51500.201.164, 6,941 euro in total. Nineteen councillors attended.

By order No. 2979 of 11 September 2026 Nesebar municipality awarded the property from the auction held on 4 September. The sale covers plot 51500.22.121 in the Bostanluka locality, uncultivated category eight farmland measuring 1,889 square metres. The price is 71,063 euro excluding VAT, roughly 37.62 euro per square metre. A local tax of 3 per cent, 2,131.89 euro, and a fee of 2 per cent, 1,705.51 euro, are added. The legal basis is Art. 86 (1) and (2) of Regulation No. 5 on the management of municipal property and council decision No. 697 of 5 May 2026.

Between June and August 2026 Eurocontrol counted an average of 35,959 flights a day in European airspace, 2.4 per cent more than in the previous summer. Albania, Croatia, Cyprus, Greece, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Slovenia recorded increases. Traffic fell in Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Türkiye. The figures cover whole countries and the entire airspace, not individual airports; the comparison says nothing about the number of destinations served from Burgas.

Assessment: On the southern coast, flight connections help decide how quickly a flat sells again and how long the letting season runs. The picture is currently splitting: the Adriatic and Greece are gaining, Bulgaria is losing volume. For owners this does not mean Burgas is losing connectivity, but that the next winter schedule announcement matters more than the summer review. On any connectivity question I look first at the number of direct destinations from Burgas, not at the European average.

For July 2026 the National Statistical Institute counts 925 accommodation establishments in Burgas district with 140,360 bed places, 2,876,601 overnight stays and 575,361 arrivals. Revenue reached 176.761 million euro, of which 125.660 million came from non-residents, who booked 1,937,585 of the nights. Nationwide, overnight stays fell by 5.4 per cent to 5.769 million and arrivals by 3.1 per cent to 1.456 million, while revenue rose by 11.4 per cent to 346.4 million euro. Bed occupancy dropped by 2.5 percentage points to 53.3 per cent and splits sharply by category: 67.7 per cent in four- and five-star properties, 45.1 per cent at three stars, 32.3 per cent at one and two stars.

Forbes Bulgaria reports on plans to double the tax valuations of Bulgarian property by the end of 2029: 30 per cent in 2027, then 35 per cent in each of the following two years. The valuation base has not been updated since 2007. The rate itself is set by each municipality within a band of 0.1 to 4.5 per mille of the tax value, and a statutory relief of 50 per cent applies to a main residence. The draft budget for 2027, which sets the frame, is expected at the end of October. No adjustment mechanism and no impact assessment have been published so far, and it remains open whether municipalities will lower their rates in return.

Bulgaria and Türkiye want to speed up construction of a second border crossing at Kapitan Andreevo. The new point will be built north of the existing crossing and is intended solely for heavy goods traffic; its proximity to existing infrastructure is meant to keep building costs down. Both sides declared themselves ready to sign the agreement within days and are setting up a joint expert commission for the technical specification. Kapitan Andreevo is the busiest land border in the EU. Upgrade and reconstruction work is running in parallel at the Lesovo and Malko Tarnovo crossings, the latter being the closest crossing to the coast from Burgas.

The state tourism administration and the Polish Chamber of Tourism are holding an industry forum in Bulgaria for the first time on 15 September 2026, at Sunny Beach. The administration names a target of 800,000 Polish visitors a year by 2029; Bulgaria currently ranks fifth on the Polish market. In organised travel the Bulgarian share rose in 2026 from 5.5 to 6.9 per cent, and in dynamic packaging to 7.5 per cent. The programme covers B2B meetings between Bulgarian hotels and Polish operators for the 2027 season. Co-organisers are the association of incoming agencies, the Melia Sunny Beach hotel and Fraport.

Assessment: Poland is the market with the clearest upward trend for the northern part of our area, and Fraport is not at the table by chance: more seats out of Polish cities feed straight into occupancy in Sunny Beach, Sveti Vlas and Nessebar. For landlords this means planning the shoulder season with Polish operators instead of relying on July and August alone. Anyone holding a property for letting should check whether its fit-out matches what tour operators require.

From January to July 2026 Bulgaria exported goods worth 27.145 billion euro, up 8.5 per cent, and imported goods worth 34.540 billion euro, up 13.7 per cent; the deficit reached 7.395 billion euro. Outside the EU the gap is widest at 6.411 billion euro. Imports from Türkiye grew by 35.5 per cent to 4.516 billion euro and those from China by 49 per cent to 2.950 billion euro. In July alone exports of 4.063 billion euro faced imports of 5.090 billion euro, a monthly deficit of 1.027 billion euro.

The Municipality of Pomorie has invited representatives of the tourism association and the local trade to an extended session of the advisory council on tourism on Friday, 18 September 2026 at 17:30 in the municipal art gallery Dechko Stoev. Two items are on the agenda: the results of the 2026 summer season and how Pomorie will present itself as a destination at the Eurovision showcase in 2027. The invitation is signed by Mayor Ivan Alexiev. It does not yet give season figures; these will be presented at the session.

The village administration building in Lozenets is back in operation after a full refurbishment. The interior, the facade and the equipment for staff and citizen services have been renewed. The handover took place on 11 September 2026 in the presence of Mayor Marin Kirov and other officials. The municipality does not state costs, construction time or the funding source in its notice. Lozenets is the second largest settlement of the municipality after Tsarevo and the point of contact for address registration, property tax and the waste fee for owners based there.

Mario Hosen on violin, Kristina Miller on piano and Claudius Baran on bandoneon perform works by Paganini, Piazzolla and Oscar Peterson on Friday 9 October 2026 at 19:30 in the NHK culture house in Burgas. The evening is part of the ninth Port Prim Art Fest, staged by Grand Hotel & Spa Primoretz with support from Burgas municipality. Tickets are available at the Chasovnika box office and through Eventim.bg, with information on 0894 898 098. The festival supports the city's bid to become European Capital of Culture in 2032.

By notice No. N2-UT-6695 of 10 September 2026 Nesebar municipality announced a draft amendment to the development plan for plot UPI IX-493 in block 2601 of Sunny Beach West; its cadastral identifier is 51500.507.291. The zone changes from «Ok» for resort construction to «Zhs» for residential construction, with the designated use following suit. The parameters remain unchanged: height up to 15.00 metres over at most five storeys, density 30 per cent, floor area ratio 1.50, minimum green space 50 per cent. The documents are available for inspection at the municipality's spatial planning department, 10 Edelweiss Street, third floor, room 35.

Assessment: The draft is the preliminary stage of what the council has already decided for three neighbouring plots, and it shows that the conversion in Sunny Beach West is not an isolated case. For owners in block 2601 the inspection period is the moment when an objection still achieves something; after that only litigation remains. I see this as an opportunity rather than a risk for buyers, because residential use widens demand. Anyone affected should inspect the draft in person, since the notice states neither a deadline nor a procedure for objections.

The municipality of Tsarevo is putting new street sweepers into service in Lozenets, Tsarevo and Ahtopol. They are financed from an EU project and from funds returned out of the charges paid to the regional environmental inspectorate. Further equipment is to follow step by step for the remaining settlements of the municipality, without a date being given. The municipality does not state the number of machines or their purchase cost in its notice of 10 September 2026.

On 8 September Pomorie municipality announced that two development plans for technical infrastructure had been published in State Gazette No. 80 of 1 September 2026. They rest on decisions No. 885 and No. 886 of Pomorie municipal council, minutes No. 53 of 23 July 2026. The first plan brings mineral water from borehole No. B-73 of the Medovo deposit to a hotel complex with outdoor pools, underground parking, a transformer station and its own treatment plant in the village of Medovo; the route crosses plots 47651.7.25 and 47651.7.127 over a combined 99.50 metres and encumbers 0.129 decares. The second plan secures the supply line over 205.97 metres on plot 47651.7.127 alone, encumbering 0.266 decares. Objections may be lodged within 30 days of publication, through the municipality, with the Burgas Administrative Court.

For the second quarter of 2026 the National Statistical Institute reports output of 8,272.6 euro per person employed and 21.2 euro per hour worked, a real increase of 3.1 per cent on the same quarter of the previous year. Employment stood at 3,661.8 thousand people and 1,428.3 million hours were worked. By sector, gross value added per person employed is 7,898.2 euro in industry, 7,298.4 euro in services and 1,305.8 euro in agriculture. The data are preliminary and were published on 7 September 2026.

Operator Fraport Twin Star reports more than three million passengers handled at Burgas and Varna combined since the start of 2026, even though Burgas only resumed flights in May: the runway was rehabilitated at a cost of over 60 million euro. Both airports record double-digit growth from Poland, Israel, Hungary, Slovakia, Belgium and France. Burgas added Rome to its network, and charter programmes from France are returning after a break of several years. Varna gained Athens, Barcelona, Budapest, Gdansk and Paris, with Basel following from October. For the full year the operator expects more passengers than in 2025.

The municipality of Burgas has closed the section of Lyuben Karavelov Street between Maria Luisa Boulevard and Debelt Street, including the junction with Debelt Street. The closure began on Monday 31 August 2026 at 15:00 and is planned to last four months, that is until the end of December. The reason is repair and resurfacing work on the carriageway. The municipality points to a temporary traffic scheme in the affected area and advises using alternative routes without naming specific ones. It gives no figure for the cost.

The foreign ministry's briefing note on the long-stay visa states that the application is submitted solely at the diplomatic or consular mission at the applicant's permanent place of residence, or at the mission accredited for that state. Anyone legally staying in a third country may apply there by way of exception, must set out the reasons and must guarantee return to the state of permanent residence. No exception is made from the personal interview. Under Article 15(1) of the Foreigners Act the visa is valid for up to six months with a right to stay of up to 180 days. For the residence permit that follows, the same note requires accommodation, compulsory health insurance and own means for the entire stay, at least at the level of the statutory minimum monthly wage or the minimum pension.

Assessment: This rule regularly costs buyers a trip. Anyone still in the country after the notary appointment who wants to file on the spot is turned away, because jurisdiction follows the place of residence, not the location of the property. In practice: the purchase can be completed on site, the visa application belongs at home and needs an appointment booked in advance, since the personal interview is mandatory. For buyers with two residences I check beforehand which mission is accredited, because waiting time and the document list depend on it. For an assessment of the individual case Svetlana draws on her local network of notaries, tax advisers and lawyers.

The Governing Council of the European Central Bank raised all three key rates by 25 basis points on 10 September, effective from 16 September 2026. The deposit facility rate now stands at 2.50 per cent, the main refinancing rate at 2.65 per cent and the marginal lending rate at 2.90 per cent. The new projections put headline inflation at 3.0 per cent for 2026, 2.5 per cent for 2027 and 2.1 per cent for 2028, and the rate excluding energy and food at 2.5, 2.6 and 2.3 per cent. Growth is projected at 0.9 per cent in 2026, 1.4 per cent in 2027 and 1.5 per cent in 2028, revised upwards for the first two years. The further course remains expressly data-dependent.

The National Statistical Institute released the construction output indices for July 2026 on 10 September. Seasonally adjusted, building work came in 0.4 per cent below June and civil engineering 0.5 per cent below. Against July 2025, adjusted for working days, building work stands 9.5 per cent higher and civil engineering 5.0 per cent. For the coastal strip the reading is straightforward: the year-on-year picture remains clearly positive while the month-to-month pace is levelling off.

The industrial production index fell 3.0 per cent in July 2026 against June, the National Statistical Institute reported on 10 September. Year on year, adjusted for working days, it stands 6.8 per cent lower. Mining, down 36.1 per cent, and manufacturing, down 7.3 per cent, carry the decline, while generation and distribution of energy rose 16.7 per cent. Within manufacturing, vehicle production fell 27.3 per cent and electronics 18.4 per cent, the sharpest monthly drops.

At the end of June 2026 Bulgaria had roughly 766,000 square metres of retail park space against roughly 811,000 square metres of shopping centre space, 1.58 million square metres in total, a split of 49 to 51 per cent. All 16,700 square metres of retail space completed in the second quarter were retail parks, and eleven further schemes across eight cities are under construction, totalling 131,000 square metres. Vacancy runs at 1.9 per cent in retail parks against 3.6 per cent in the capital's shopping centres, where rents stand at 48.50 euros per square metre and month compared with 13 euros. The figures come from the quarterly report by Cushman and Wakefield Forton.

Assessment: For coastal owners the finding is less exotic than it sounds. Retail parks are built where year-round purchasing power exists, and they are the most reliable early signal of local shopping provision in a residential area. Anyone assessing a flat in Burgas or along the Pomorie to Sveti Vlas corridor should look at what is being built within two kilometres: a retail park in walking distance changes winter lettability noticeably. With rents of 13 against 48.50 euros per square metre, it is also clear which format keeps growing over the next few years.

Modernisation of the Plovdiv to Burgas railway has passed 80 per cent physical progress, Flagman reported on 10 September. The scheme runs to more than 373 million euros and is co-financed under the Transport Connectivity programme 2021 to 2027. So far 309 kilometres of track and 51 kilometres of overhead line have been renewed, 24 level crossings have been closed and replaced by bridges or underpasses, and the 744-metre tunnel near Chirpan is complete. Once finished, passenger trains are to run at 160 and freight trains at 120 kilometres per hour. A further 78 million euros in the same programme is earmarked for five new trainsets.

The draft budget of Burgas municipality for 2026 comes to 356,592,267 euros and was tabled on 10 September. Road infrastructure is allotted 9.1 million euros, street cleaning 20.5 million, street lighting 1.8 million and green spaces 3.3 million euros. The draft first passes through the standing committees and goes to a vote at the end of September. Its focus lies on educational buildings, energy refurbishment and healthcare.

Sozopol municipality published order number 8-Z-654 of 16 July 2026 on 10 September. It approves the detailed development plan for parcel 67800.44.48 in the Mapi locality and forms from it regulated plot VI-44.48 of 2,548 square metres, with a further 109 square metres passing into street land. The designated use is resort and complementary activities together with a substation. The plan is on display at the spatial planning directorate at Han Krum Square 2, with the notice posted from 10 to 23 September. The order may be appealed within fourteen days through the municipality to the administrative court.

Sozopol municipality published list number 3 of debtors under the Local Taxes and Fees Act on 10 September. It names 21 individuals and companies whose outstanding amounts concern property tax and the waste collection fee. Those listed have 14 days from publication to report to the local taxes and fees department at Han Krum Square 2, between 08:30 and 17:15. If no one appears, the document is placed on file under Article 32(6) of the Tax and Social Insurance Procedure Code and counts as duly served. The list is posted from 10 to 24 September.

Assessment: This deemed-service rule is where foreign owners are regularly caught out. Anyone who does not live in Bulgaria and has given no address for service in the country often learns of a case only once interest and enforcement costs are already running. Two things help: register a permanent address for service with the municipality, and settle property tax and the waste fee in one spring payment rather than four instalments. For flats used only in summer I also check whether an exemption from the waste fee applies and whether the declaration was filed on time.

Port Prim Art Fest takes place in Burgas for the ninth time, from 7 to 10 October 2026. It opens on 7 October at 18:00 with an exhibition at the Petko Zadgorski art gallery, which stays open free of charge until 30 October. The programme includes a performance by the Plovdiv State Theatre on 8 October at 19:30, a concert moving between classical music, jazz and tango on 9 October at 19:30, and screenings from an international short film festival daily from 18:00. The organiser is the Grand Hotel and SPA Primorec with support from Burgas municipality; theatre tickets run through advance sale.

A 25 basis point rise in the deposit rate from 2.25 to 2.50 per cent is treated as all but certain for the European Central Bank meeting on 10 September. That step is already in the price. Beyond it, markets are pricing in some 75 further basis points by June 2027, which would take the rate close to 3 per cent. Bulgaria sits directly inside this rate framework since joining the euro area, so the same direction applies to mortgage pricing here.

Brent traded at 101.10 dollars a barrel at 05:56 on 10 September, 0.1 per cent below the previous close. West Texas Intermediate stood at 96.24 dollars, up 0.2 per cent. Brent has been above the 100 dollar mark since 3 September, and the gain since the start of August adds up to roughly 30 per cent. Crude is the upstream stage of pump and heating costs and feeds through with a lag of several weeks.

The National Assembly is debating and voting at second reading on amendments to the Consumer Protection Act; the report was only partly read out in the chamber the day before. The amendments introduce a minimum level of protection for consumers using financial services: they govern pre-contractual information requirements, the right of withdrawal from financial services contracts concluded at a distance, and the cases in which that right does not apply. The draft also sets out what traders must disclose before a distance financial services contract is concluded and imposes specific requirements on the online interfaces of firms offering such services electronically. For every distance contract, including those for financial services, a dedicated function for exercising the right of withdrawal will have to be provided. The same agenda includes ratification of the Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters as amended by the protocol in force since 1 June 2011.

Assessment: For buyers who open an account, take out insurance or sign a loan online from abroad, this is the rule that matters: a withdrawal button you can actually find beats a complaint nobody reads. The ratification of the assistance convention in turn concerns anyone holding accounts in two countries, because it widens the exchange of data between tax administrations. Read together, the two lead to the same conclusion I draw: check contracts calmly, note the deadlines and keep the tax return clean in both countries.