MPs called “Reckless Lies” Statement by Outgoing PM Borisov, that Parliament Has Raised Deputies’ Salaries to 10,000 BGN

Deputies from various parliamentary groups refuted the publications on websites from yesterday and the subsequent statement of the outgoing Prime Minister Boyko Borissov that they have raised their salaries and will receive BGN 10,000 per month.

The interpretations followed an amendment to yesterday's parliamentary rules, which introduced a 25% cap on additional remuneration for priority tasks.

So far there has been no such cap. Earlier today, the resigned Prime Minister Boyko Borissov said in a video on Facebook: "I saw how the first decisions were to raise their salaries to BGN 10,000."

This remark provoked strong reactions around the parliament. MPs from all parties rejected the allegation as untrue.

Hassan Ademov of the MRF parliamentary group described the allegation as an "absolute lie". He explained that so far there has been no cap for additional bonuses in "the implementation of priority tasks for the country" and that the amendment introduces such a restriction. Although Ademov denied having received additional remuneration under this article of the Rules of Procedure of the National Assembly, he clarified that if the hypothesis in the provision is reached, it means that the remuneration will be reduced by 75 percent.

"Whoever claims that the salaries of MPs have been increased by 25% is lying recklessly," Ademov said.

The same position was taken by the co-chairman of "Democratic Bulgaria" Hristo Ivanov. He also recalled that this possibility of additional payment always has existed in the regulations, but without restriction.

 "It was potentially possible to receive unlimited remuneration under this text. A cap has now been set and everyone has understood that this text existed. We will propose a solution to abolish this possibility altogether, so that there is no doubt, that someone will take some money ", announced Ivanov.

Meanwhile, two of the political parties have been vying to propose a more drastic limit on MPs' salaries. At a briefing in the parliament, Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly Christian Vigenin from BSP announced that his party would submit a proposal to eliminate the possibility of such a additional remuneration. According to him, the BSP will try to freeze the amount of deputies' salaries and repeal the formula according to which they are updated every quarter.

 Shortly after the statement of the BSP, "Stand up! Mutri out" also gave a briefing to the media, at which the chairman of the coalition Maya Manolova said that they would submit their project, which envisages the salaries of deputies to be reduced to an average salary for the country - or from nearly BGN 7,000 per month to about BGN 1,400.

By law, the amount of MPs' salaries is calculated according to the amount of the average salary in the public sector and amounts to 3 average monthly salaries. The coalition is also proposing pay cuts for ministers, the prime minister, deputy prime ministers, agency heads and senior public officials.

"It is not moral to receive salaries in thousands of BGN, when people are worried about the health, economic and social crisis in which Bulgaria has been in the last few years and especially in the last two," Manolova commented. She said the proposal includes the funds saved to be redirected to the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy to provide personal assistants for people with disabilities.

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