Bulgaria Parliament Brawl Escalates, Ethnic Turks Leave Debate

The MP from DPS, Hasan Ademov, says tobacco growers in Bulgaria are doomed if the Parliament passes the new minimum insurance income. Photo by BGNES

The latest scandal is brewing in Bulgaria's Parliament Thursday after the Members from the ethnic Turkish Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS) party left in sign of protest.

The reason for the brawl is the rejection of the DPS proposal to keep the minimum income of tobacco growers in Bulgaria, on which mandatory insurance is calculated, at BGN 65. The new proposed amount is BGN 240.

The DPS MPs say the new amount will transfer the burden of the economic crisis to the poorest and turn the tobacco growing sector into “gray economy” and would even lead to the absurd situation that tobacco would not be grown in Bulgaria.

The DPS stated they are leaving the debates because the majority is deaf to the opposition's proposals, adding the responsibility of the hardships awaiting many Bulgarians falls on the ruling Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (GERB) party.

Lyutvi Mestan from DPS is quoted as saying that people's discontent can turn into anger, something the co-Chair of the Blue Coalition, Ivan Kostov, qualified as threats DPS would stir unrest in the ethnic Turkish regions.

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