News

13 July 2026

Ombudsman Velislava Delcheva sent a recommendation to Sofia Mayor Vasil Terziev and Sofia City Council Chair Tsvetomir Petrov in response to numerous reports and complaints from citizens with disabilities facing administrative obstacles in obtaining priority cards for public transport travel.

The reason for the submission is also a specific case involving a Sofia resident with an 80% permanent reduction in working capacity who, following a serious heart condition and several life-saving surgeries, is unable to obtain the public transport pass to which he is entitled, even though he has a valid expert decision from the Medical Expert Commission (TELK).

The reason: he is still awaiting a decision from the National Social Security Institute regarding the granting of a pension, and in the meantime, he is forced to pay the full cost of his trips.

In her recommendation, Delcheva points out that administrative barriers to the issuance of priority travel cards place people with disabilities at a disadvantage and limit their ability to exercise the rights guaranteed by national and international law.

She underscores that institutions must organise their operations in such a way that citizens are not deprived of the support to which they are entitled due to delayed administrative procedures.

“I would like to recall that, under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which has been ratified by the Republic of Bulgaria, the relevant national and local authorities should take increasingly appropriate and effective measures to promote, protect, and guarantee the full and equal enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms by people with disabilities, to promote respect for their inherent human dignity, and to support them in their efforts to successfully integrate into society,” writes the Ombudsman.

In her recommendation, Velislava Delcheva proposes that the requirement under Article 29, paragraph 1, item 15—that people with disabilities whose work capacity is reduced by 50% to 70.99% must be “pension recipients”—be reviewed, as this places them in a position of unequal treatment compared to the individuals covered by Article 29, paragraph 1, item 16 of the Sofia City Council Ordinance on the Rules and Conditions for Travelling by Public Urban Transportation within the Territory of the Sofia Municipality, effective as of 5 April 2018.

The Public Defender points out that requiring citizens with disabilities to have received a decision granting them a pension in order to use priority transport creates serious difficulties during the period between the issuance of the TELK decision and the completion of the pension proceedings. According to Delcheva, this leads to unequal treatment of people who have already been recognised as having a disability and are entitled to the corresponding support.