Bulgaria's Government 'Was Led by People's Interest' - Oresharski

The outgoing Bulgarian cabinet's actions were led by the benefit of the people, though everyday resistance was not insignificant, Plamen Oresharski said.

In his statement at a ceremony held Wednesday to mark the transition of power to a caretaker government, the former Prime Minister stressed his cabinet had worked "in the most complicated political environment", but had "managed to carry out" most of its commitments.

Oresharski hailed his socialist-liberal cabinet's achievements, underlining it had managed to improve business climate, allocate EU funding more efficiently than the previous government did and introduce key measures in social policy, also creating 50 000 jobs in just fourteen months.

He cited stock indexes and business climate indicators, now at their highest levels in years, as an example and made it clear the government had performed better in the financial sector compared to what it had come across as a legacy from the previous cabinet.

Bulgaria’s fiscal reserve currently exceeds BGN 8.5 B, business confidence stands at its highest level since 2008 and stock market indices have risen by 40%, said Oresharski.

Oresharski pointed "a step forward" had been made over the past year in terms of income, pensions and social programs, and the government had "the strongest record since 2009" in that area.

"We failed to drastically change administrative burden, but reversed the trend. We introduced 308 e-services available to citizens and businesses," he added.

He also broached the issue of EU funding, where 20% of allocations for the whole six-year period had been granted in just over a year, compared to 40 percent for the whole previous six-year period, in his words.

The former head of government also praised his team's work on "one of the biggest" recent challenges - the refugee influx of last year.

He told his successor, prof. Georgi Bliznashki, that being a caretaker government was both "bad luck" and "bliss".

"It is bad luck, because the short time and the lack of legislative initiative will not allow you more large-scale actions. It is bad luck, because interim Prime Ministers are the most successful ones in our history," Oresharski explained.

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