There is no big discussion and the benefits of the euro are clear, the path has been drawn, we have given up monetary policy since 1997, we have made specific commitments related to the euro when we joined the EU. So we have paid the entire price for not having a monetary policy, but we have not taken advantage of being part of this unified system - this was said in the studio of "The Day Begins with Georgi Lyubenov" by the mayor of Sofia Vasil Terziev.
"The benefits of the euro have been talked about many times - hundreds of millions in fees from currency conversion, a higher credit rating, lower interest rates, the possibility of intervention if necessary, better control over banks. And I think that this would have a pretty good impact on the economy in the medium and long term," he explained.
When asked how he would comment on the reasons that prompted President Rumen Radev to request the referendum and whether there was some other political goal behind this, Mayor Terziev said:
"We regularly play with people's fears - how their savings will be taken away, how they will become poorer… It is easier to govern not by creating, but by taking advantage of people's fears with a lot of propaganda."
Vasil Terziev pointed out that he could not assess whether the president's decision to hold a referendum was related to the preparation of some new political project:
"It has been said for years that Mr. Radev will have his own political project, but so far it has not happened. When it happens, we can comment on it", said the Sofia mayor and added: "The benefits of the euro are many and I hope that the convergence report will be released as soon as possible and that we will adopt it next year."
In connection with the planned protests of the Sofia public transport employees, Terziev said that on May 14 from 4:00 to 8:00 Sofia will be blocked and there will be no public transport:
"We have not stopped talking to the unions, looking for solutions, but we have quite large differences in positions. On their part, the request is for 400 leva for this year on the basic salary of absolutely everyone in the system, all companies. 500 next year, 600 the year after, which with all the allowances for time served for internship, category, leads to 1.5-1.6 of this amount. What we can afford is a 5% increase, which is about 100 leva on the basic salary."
The mayor added that the average gross salary in the capital's public transport is currently about 3900 leva for drivers, and in the metro it is 4600 leva, and this does not include 300 leva food vouchers.
Regarding parking in the center of Sofia, Terziev pointed out that the Municipal Council must decide whether the future "red zone" should cost 5 leva per hour, as well as whether electric vehicles should pay for parking.
In connection with the numerous incidents with scooters, Vasil Terziev said that they are working with the SDVR to take specific measures:
"Even before all sorts of incidents started happening in other cities, we knew that this would be a challenge. So we are working closely with the SDVR and will propose a plan on how to deal with this problem so that Sofia does not get into the news with the incidents. We are thinking about new spaces for riding scooters and new restrictions in the rules of riding. When you impose restrictions, you should also provide alternatives. For us, this is an adequate form of transportation, but the wrong places just need to be done the right way."