The traffic on "Tsar Osvoboditel" Blvd. in the center of Sofia is blocked by protesters. At 12 o'clock, a protest organized by CITUB began in front of the official entrance of the National Assembly. The union is dissatisfied with the parameters of the budget and income policy, demanding an additional 62 million euros from the deputies for salaries in the public sector, BNR reports.
The protest is organized as a pre-Christmas celebration with a Christmas tree and gifts, but not all of them are full. Snow White and Santa Claus participate in it against the background of the purple flags of the CITUB. Many of the participants came from the country to join the protest event.
The chief economist of the Confederation of Bulgarian Trade Unions, Lyuboslav Kostov, is dressed as Santa Claus, and he explained why:
"Because obviously the people who don't have enough money, clearly haven't listened, so that there is no money for them. We have taken some boxes, they are empty, there is no money, there is no salary growth. It is much smaller than the growth in the private sector, than the growth of others in the public sector. The people in the National Social Security Institute, the National Revenue Agency, the Bulgarian Post Office, the public transport and the Bulgarian State Railways were obviously forgotten. We are looking for 60 million euros for all of them for a minimum 10% salary increase".
A protest on the square in front of the Bulgarian National Bank and the official entrance to the parliament is being attended by employees of the Social Assistance Agency, "Bulgarian Posts", the National Revenue Agency and other structures, which according to the union are underfunded and will not receive a sufficient salary increase next year. This is also the call to the deputies - to provide these funds so that from January 1 next year, when Bulgaria also introduces the euro, people can receive decent salaries.