Parties spend more on external services than their own structures

Parties spend more on external services and materials than they invest in their own staff. This is one of the conclusions in the survey of party expenditures carried out by the Institute for the Development of the Public Environment based on the reports for 2024, submitted to the Court of Auditors of 126 formations.

Most of the parties to the parties in 2024 were allocated for the costs of external services and materials – BGN 14.9 million, or 41%.

They are followed by those for remuneration and insurance representing 24%, or BGN 8.8 million. Despite their relatively large share, only 23 parties have declared that they pay the labor of employees, with the largest amount reporting from GERB-SDS-BGN 2.65 million from parliamentary parties.

According to the authors of the analysis, in the conditions of representative democracy, parties are expected to play a key role in the expert debate and the government of the state, which means to build and maintain their staff and capacity in different areas. However, their cost structure shows that they rely more on external consultants than their own apparatus.

The Institute for the Development of the Public Environment recommends starting an expert debate on the reform of party funding, as part of it is the issue of the inherent and necessary costs of political parties. According to the authors of the report as such should understand the cost of

In this way, parties will be encouraged to develop their capacity and network of prepared activists, incl. And in smaller settlements.