The government, business and unions sat down at one table. This happened during the meeting of the budget committee to discuss the budget of the State Social Insurance Fund (SSS), the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) and the state budget.
Asya Goneva from the Confederation of Bulgarian Trade Unions (CITUB) gave support for the first steps in stabilizing the deficit of the National Social Insurance Fund, which she sees in the budget of the State Social Insurance Fund, news.bg pointed out.
For her, it is important that the maximum and minimum insurance income grow, because these are rights.
It is detrimental, according to her, that there is an opportunity from the janitor to the executive director to insure themselves on a minimum insurance income.
The maximum pension is not moving in any way. This demotivates high-income groups, Goneva criticized. Currently, about 5,000 people are on the maximum pension.
On behalf of the employers, Rumen Radev expressed criticism of the budget of the Social Insurance Institution. "We do not support increasing the minimum wage by this amount", he announced.
Business is against automatism in income growth. "We do not approve of increasing the amount of social security contributions by 2 percentage points", Radev added. Employers are also against increasing the maximum social security income.
Democratic Bulgaria (DB) MP Martin Dimitrov warned the authorities that they were making a serious mistake. He insisted on other solutions.
"There is no reason to increase the pension contribution by 2%. The effect is a larger gray economy," Dimitrov was categorical.
The state administration should gradually start paying its contributions, the Democratic Party proposes, while the party insists on starting reforms, including for pensioners in the Ministry of Interior.
They also want measures in the TELKs from the Democratic Party. They insist that money not be taken from the bright part of the economy and the middle class.
"This is the worst possible budget", Martin Dimitrov also said. "It is not too late to change this budget, catch the last train", he pointed out.
Assen Vassilev explained that "We Continue the Change" (PP) will categorically not support this budget. Contributions are increasing, but rights are not increasing, in his words.
What is your philosophy in these actions, the former finance minister asked. "The system must first be fair and then solidary", emphasized Vassilev.
There is nothing unstable in the pension system, he explained.
Social Minister Borislav Gutsanov defended the budget. The problem is the reform of the TELKs.
800,000 people are on TELKs, while the number of social assistants is nearly 90,000. This is an abnormally high number, Gutsanov emphasized.
The priority for the government is the demographic crisis. The budget could be better, the social minister emphasized, but it was necessary to see what was possible.
With 13 votes in favor and 8 against, the DOO budget passed its first reading.