Bulgaria PM Orders Freeze of MPs Salaries

Bulgaria’s Prime Minister, Boyko Borisov, says that in times of crisis the only morally right thing to do is to not give even one additional BGN to MPs and Ministers. Photo by BGNES

The salaries of the Members of the Parliament should not go up, Bulgaria’s Prime Minister, Boyko Borisov, declared Friday.

Borisov spoke at the Parliament after talks with the Speaker, Tsetska Tsacheva, saying on Wednesday she will issue an official proposal to freeze the salaries.

“When we say that salaries cannot go up over the crisis, the only morally right thing to do is to not give even one additional BGN to MPs and Ministers,” Borisov is quoted as saying, adding Tsacheva will further propose fines for MPs who fail to show to work.

In a rare move, Borisov’s predecessor and leader of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), Sergey Stanishev, backed the proposal to freeze the wages as sign of solidarity on the part of the executive and legislative power with the Bulgarian people. Stanishev reminded that the ministerial salaries were lowered at the end of his term just to be immediately raised by 15% by the new rulers.

On Thursday Tsacheva explained for the media the way the MPs salaries are calculated in an attempt to justify the raise, which was first announced by the leader of the conservative Order, law and Justice (RZS) party, Yane Yanev.