After 17 long hours with little debate and many procedural tricks, the 2010 Budget bill was adopted by MPs on the second and final reading at about 2.10am on December 3 2009.
A large number of the draft bill's provisions were passed without the votes of the right-wing Order, Law and Justice (OLJ) party, whose MPs left Parliament floor after the majority rejected the party's motion for cutting the 2010 budget of the Presidency by one million leva.

The budget of President Georgi Purvanov was kept at 4.23 million leva for 2010.

The largest party in opposition, the former ruling Bulgarian Socialist Party, also refused to debate most of the draft bill's provisions.

The BSP and the other opposition party, the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF), wanted the revenue part of the Budget increased by 762 million leva and 500 million leva, respectively. However, the proposal was rejected by the ruling party GERB and the other right-wing parties supporting GERB.

BSP also objected against article 17 of the Budget bill, which allows the Government to cut spending without specifying any limits. The opposition parties asked for a cutting limit of 10 per cent and that all further reductions be voted by Parliament.

When Prime Minister Boiko Borissov joined MPs later during the night, Socialist MPs tried to start a debate but the ruling majority, apart from Martin Dimitrov, leader of the right-wing Union of Democratic Forces, refused to address the BSP criticism, Bulgarian-language Dnevnik daily said.

Overall, only the public health sector and the State Agriculture Fund saw their Budget funding padded.

"Budget 2010 is the big step forward for getting out of the economic crisis," Finance Minister Simeon Dyankov told private terrestrial channel TV on December 3 2009. "It is a fair budget. There isn't much money in it, but this is what we've got and we will use it as needed," he said.

"We are doing all we can to achieve positive results by the spring of next year," he said. Bulgaria's economy would bottom out in the first four months of 2010, after which the recovery will boost Budget revenue, which would go towards health care and social services.

"We have 60 million leva more revenue in October at Customs Agency, it is a sign that things are getting better," he said.

The money from the increased tax on gambling will go to the health sector. The tax on gambling was raised from 12 to 15 per cent of turnover despite protests from the gambling industry. According to the Finance Ministry, the increased tax will contribute between 60 and 70 million leva to the Budget.