Nationalist Leader: Gabon Offers Higher Pensions than Bulgaria

Volen Siderov, leader of nationalist party Ataka, has suggested that pension rates in Bulgaria are lower than African countries. Photo by BGNES

Volen Siderov, leader of nationalist party Ataka, has suggested that pension rates in Bulgaria are lower than African countries.

"The minimum pension in Salvador, one of the poorest countries in Latin America, is nearly twice higher than in Bulgaria, at EUR 115. Meanwhile, the pension in the African country of Gabon, where Bantu tribes live, is EUR 194. Are they smarter than Bulgarians," Siderov asked Wednesday in an interview for the morning broadcast of private TV station bTV.

He suggested replacing talk about Bulgarians' incomes with talk about salaries and pensions, stressing that a large number of people depended on them.

The leader of nationalist party Ataka reminded that the minimum wage in crisis-stricken Cyprus amounted to EUR 900.

Siderov suggested that the minimum monthly wage in Bulgaria had to be BGN 1000 and the minimum pension BGN 500.

The nationalist leader, as cited by Sega daily, claimed that a sum of BGN 6 B a year would suffice.

He argued that the money could be supplied by cutting administration costs, reducing smuggling, and cancelling concession contracts "plundering the country."

As an example he cited the gold mining concession in Chelopech as a result of which some 10 tonnes of gold left the country on an annual basis in exchange for a fee of 1%.

"These are not investors but colonizers," Siderov insisted.

He went on to argue that foreign investors had to get into the habit of paying salaries by EU standards, rather than offer payment of EUR 200 per month to employees paid EUR 2000 in their home countries.

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