Bulgarian Trade Unions Back 2013 Budget Update

Finance | August 15, 2013, Thursday // 15:39|  views

The two national trade unions in Bulgaria are in favor of the revision act  for 2013, and have urged the Bulgarian government  to adopt further social measures.

In a statement at the sitting of National Council for Tripartite Cooperation's, the KNSB and Podkrepa trade unions stated the need socialist-endorsed cabinet of PM Plament Oresharski to implement additional social measures lacking in the proposed budget update, expressing their intention eventually to support the budget revisio.

“The revision of the budget prepared by former FinMin Simeon Djankov is necessary and inevitable and there is no other alternative” declared Konstantin Trenchev, the leader of trade union Podkrepa.

Among the demands for social improvements for which Trenchev urged the cabinet were an increase in the threshold of the minimum wage in Bulgaria and enlargement in the unemployment compensations, both starting from October 2011.

The trade union recalled the problem with overdue debts of the Bulgarian state companies such as the Bulgarian State Railways (BDZ) and National Electricity Company (NEK) that need to be settled in the near future.

They also asked for the government to take part in providing personal life insurances needed in some spheres of labor.

Representatives of KNSB similarly expressed they are not fully satisfied with the earmarked social activities set in the budget update.

“We need the budget actualization to have the capacity to solve the social problems”, stated KNSB's Valentin Nikiforov.

The current, socialist-led Cabinet of former Finance Minister (2005-9) and now PM Plamen Oresharski, aided by current Finance Minister, Petar Chobanov, decided in mid-July it was necessary to revise the budget prepared by Simeon Djankov, Finance Minister in the previous cabinet of center-right party GERB.

Bulgaria's President Rosen Plevneliev imposed a partial veto on the State Budget Act for 2013, saying the Socialist-led coalition government had not shown enough transparency in its use of public money.

He explained that the package of social measures included in the budget update constituted a very small share of the earmarked expenses.

Friday parliament is to discuss the president's veto and to vote on the act again.

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Tags: budget revision, budget update, social spending, Podkrepa, KNSB, trade unions, Plamen Oresharski, Simeon Djankov, GERB, Petar Chobanov

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