The assurance of the Minister of Education Galin Tsokov, the 39 million BGN set in Budget 2024 will be on the accounts of the universities on May 20, Monday. The decree for their payment became a fact in the course of the talks during the past week.
"We discussed with the acting ministers of finance and education how to fulfill the legal provisions in two phases and to find the necessary finances for higher education. ... With this money, the assistant's salary will become BGN 2,100, with a retroactive date of January 1, as was agreed and it should have happened earlier, but it didn't happen. And this has awakened the energy for protests across the sector.
He specified that the additional funds of around BGN 41 million "were won in the last days":
"The decree for them has been released by the Prime Minister to be adopted by the Council of Ministers on Monday (May 20) by noon, which also provides for the additional salary increases from January 1 to all those employed in higher education establishments, and not only assistants, with BGN 290. And with a BGN 200 increase from January 1st to the non-academic staff, for which nothing was provided for in the 2024 Budget. There is also an increase in scholarships for doctoral students. ".
Plamen Dimitrov emphasized that for the second decree, which must be adopted by noon on May 20, the assurance of the acting prime minister and the finance minister is that before May 24 this money will also be in the accounts of the universities .
"The big question was when and how the money from the recently voted Higher Education Act could be guaranteed. The commitments that must be secured for these 184 million BGN, which cannot be found now, and therefore additional estimates and funds are needed. However, this must be done with the commitment of all political parties, and that is why we undertook this rapid shuttle between all the parties represented in the parliament, which finally supported in writing to take their commitment", he commented.
The president of the CNSB indicated that this is the reason why the unions decided to keep their protest readiness for after the elections:
"Let's not blow the whistle. Better to conserve this energy and wait to see if the politicians will keep this commitment. By June 15-20, the Minister of Finance will have greater clarity about what funds he has available and what he can offer, because in June payments are received for many of the taxes. This is what we came up with at the moment, if it's the best - I don't know, but it's what's possible at the moment.
According to Dimitrov, higher education has been underestimated for years and this salary increase is deserved.