SOFIA, Bulgaria, Dec 2, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Tens of thousands of people joined anti-government protests in Bulgaria on Monday, widening an anti-corruption movement sweeping the European Union's poorest country as it prepares to adopt the euro.

Protesters first took to the streets last Wednesday in Sofia against a draft 2026 budget that they say is an attempt to mask widespread corruption.

At a fresh rally on Monday, the biggest in years, protesters packed a huge square in front of parliament, carrying posters urging government change while chanting "mafia" and "resign".

"We are here to protest for our future. We want to be a European country, not one ruled by corruption and the mafia," Ventsislava Vasileva, a 21-year-old student, told AFP.

Another protester, a 24-year-old who works in a bank and only gave his name as Georgi, said he was protesting against "all the arrogance" shown by the country's leaders and "all the lawlessness".

Protests were also held in several other cities, local media reported.

The government is expected to propose amendments to the 2026 budget this week, having promised not to push through contested points such as an increase in social-security contributions.

With Bulgaria joining the eurozone on January 1, the budget will be the country's first calculated in euros.

Presenting the proposal, Bulgaria's broad coalition government insisted its priority was to "ensure the long-term durability of the public finances".

But critics say the institutions managing Bulgaria's public finances are so corrupt these measures will only entrench graft.

"If the government handles the situation rationally, it should survive this crisis," Daniel Smilov, a political scientist and programme director at the Centre for Liberal Strategies, told AFP ahead of Monday's demonstration.

He added that besides redrafting the budget, new appointments in the judiciary were "long overdue" and "necessary to alleviate the public concerns with the incapacity of the state to react to cases of corruption".

Bulgaria ranks as among the most corrupt EU members, along with Hungary and Romania, according to watchdog Transparency International's Corruption Perception Index.

The Balkan country has seen seven snap elections following massive anti-graft protests in 2020 against the government of three-time premier Boyko Borissov.

Borissov's conservative GERB party topped the most recent election last year, forming the current coalition government.