I am surprised by the carelessness and calmness with which Mayor Vasil Terziev and his deputy for finance Ivan Vassilev are accepting the transport strike on Wednesday in Sofia. This was commented by Ivan Takov, chairman of the group of the Local Coalition "BSP for Bulgaria" and of the Standing Committee on Transport and Road Safety in the SOS, in an interview with PIK TV. "The demands of the workers in public transport are fair. What is happening to them at the moment is a mockery, he said. - The mayor and his deputy are not even trying to find an option for higher pay and for improving the working conditions of the workers in the capital's public transport. For me, this behavior of theirs is inexplicable".
Ivan Takov recalled that 6 months ago, at the initiative of the Local Coalition group "BSP for Bulgaria", the SOS voted 15 million leva to improve working conditions in transport companies. "So far, these funds have not been allocated by the mayor, although in January we submitted this report again, we adopted it again and then we even obliged him to transfer these 15 million leva to the transport companies within three days, he said. - And again nothing. The funds have not been allocated yet. The mayor admits that he is obliged to implement the SOS decision. But since there are no sanctions for non-compliance, he does not implement it. And then he tells the workers in public transport that they will be given 100 leva each. And he expects them to keep quiet. There is no way this will be done. Public transport is the circulatory system of Sofia. That is why the situation in the city will be very difficult on Wednesday. And for me, this calmness and negligence of the mayor and his deputy for finance is not only surprising, but also quite worrying.
According to the chairman of the BSP - Sofia and deputy chairman of the BSP, the entire party leadership must concentrate its efforts in the short term on achieving one super goal. "It is for the BSP to have 200,000 new voters in the next 2 years. I have already had the opportunity to announce that my team and I are working on this Strategy, which we will soon present to the Executive Bureau and the National Council, said Ivan Takov. - And here we are not necessarily talking about new members of the party. It is not necessary that every person whom we convince of our ideas and policies will necessarily become a member of the BSP. But we must aim for 200,000 of our voters between 18 and 30 years old. At this age, leftist ideas suit her".
Ivan Takov added that the Councils and Commissions of the National Council of the Bulgarian Socialist Party are already working on certain tasks, and one of the main ones is related to Bulgaria's entry into the eurozone from the beginning of next year. "I had the opportunity to raise this topic on April 29 during our citywide meeting, he said. - Even then, I said that it is very important to focus our attention and efforts on what awaits us after June 4, if the convergence report is positive. We must be aware of what challenges lie ahead and how Bulgaria's entry into the eurozone will affect different social groups. What will happen in the individual sectors of the economy? It is very important to have a qualitative analysis of the risks, on the basis of which to propose public policies to minimize them, and for ministers to insist on their implementation. That is why we have assigned our experts from the Economic and Financial Councils of the BSP National Council to prepare reports on the basis of which we can begin to propose policies and solutions. The BSP cannot stand as a bystander to the process of Bulgaria's entry into the eurozone. We must participate in them and answer all the questions that citizens have, not only our voters. In order to be convinced for ourselves that this is the right thing that will happen if we end up adopting the euro. This is the professional debate that we must lead now. It is extremely important for the state and for the people. The topic of the referendum is a political conversation with a fait accompli and therefore it is meaningless now".