This budget is not just harmful for next year, it is a systemic risk for the country. It hit the workers, it hits the business and is leading the country towards a fiscal abyss. If it were just a small increase in social security contributions, a small increase in taxes, maybe the business would not have come to protest. Business has expressed its positions and says that it is against this and that - this was commented on in the studio of "The Day Begins" by the MP from "We Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria" Bozhidar Bozhanov.
Bozhanov emphasized that the protest that PP-DB is calling for is not in common with "Vazrazhdane":
"We are not protesting together with "Vazrazhdane". We announced a protest. They saw that we had announced a protest and they announced some kind of support, since it is against the policies of the ruling party. We have no coordination, we have no collaboration."
According to him, the protest is civil, not party. He warned of serious consequences of the draft budget:
"Citizens and businesses... see that this budget is not just harmful for next year, it is a systemic risk for the country. It has hit the workers, hit the business and is leading the country towards a fiscal abyss."
According to Bozanov, the problem is not only in taxes and social security, but in the concentration of power. He rejected the thesis that Asen Vassilev has violated budget discipline.
"GERB is trying to escape some of its responsibility, but there is no such thing. What only Asen Vassilev did was in relation to pensions, since they were below the poverty line. If we see the numbers in the State Social Security budget, the budget transfer remains constant as a process. This system has been unbalanced for 20 years, 30 years…"
Bozhanov also sharply criticized the proposal for a lottery concession:
"Peevski has completely conquered the majority and wants to take the lottery from where he left with his mother. He will find a proxy to take the concession and will give it to him under conditions that will prove to be less advantageous than it is at the moment. The lottery is certainly not being managed effectively."
He defended the parking reform in Sofia, but also admitted to communication errors:
"Raising the zone has been discussed since the beginning of the mandate… the moment is the most inopportune. The money from the subscriptions of citizens in the zones, however, will go to their regions."
Regarding the case against Varna Mayor Blagomir Kotsev, Bozanov believes that it makes no sense for the detention to continue. According to him, the Municipal Election Commission clearly wants to remove the mayor.