There are several bills in parliament that, if adopted, will lead to the impoverishment of Bulgarian citizens. Because, on the one hand, prices are being raised, and on the other, incomes are being frozen. This was stated by the chairman of “We Continue the Change“ Assen Vassilev at a media briefing in the National Assembly, quoted by novini.bg.
“I want to start with the freezing of incomes. Yesterday in the health committee we saw a complete mockery of young doctors and medical specialists in the country. The chairman of the committee, Kostadin Angelov, made it clear that since there were three bills, the parliament will most likely go on vacation first before solving this problem. Not only that, but the GERB bill can be explained as follows: “Daddy will buy them a bike, but another time“. There will be an increase of between 100 and 200 leva for young doctors, but from January 1 next year. Just to remind you that the increase in the Whatmans took place in two weeks, while doctors continue to receive half the salaries of the Whatmans in Sofia“, commented Vassilev.
The PP leader also drew attention to the decision to make antibiotics for children free. He noted that in 2023, under the PP government, 56 medicines became either free or reduced in price, while under the GERB government, only two antibiotics for children became free in six months.
This tells you everything about the government's desire to reduce prices. Here I would like to touch on the other bill on the introduction of the euro, which proposes measures that will dramatically increase prices next month. This bill provides for freezing prices of basic goods for 18 months and that they cannot be raised unless it is economically justified, added Asen Vassilev.
According to him, the most natural thing is for every company to raise the prices of its products dramatically before this decision comes into force, because there is no definition of economic justification.
„What we are seeing is an increase in prices due to government actions, and on the other hand – freezing the incomes of all Bulgarian citizens, with the exception of those in the security forces“, Vassilev also said.
For his part, Venko Sabrutev announced that in the first six months the price of electricity has more than doubled by a decision of the Energy Regulatory Commission.
If Borisov and Peevski really wanted to fight the price increase, they would not have allowed this. The price of electricity has increased more than incomes in Bulgaria have increased. The fight against speculation and price increases due to entry into the eurozone does not go through the measures that Borisov and Peevski are proposing, but quite the opposite – they will only increase prices, Sabrutev warned.
In turn, Vasil Pandov specified that after yesterday's meeting of the health commission, it was decided to increase the salary of young doctors by approximately 100 euros and by about 80 euros for nurses.
„That is, with the call of the authorities to go to work abroad for 500 euros, they are trying to convince them of this by increasing their salaries by 100 euros. But according to data from the Ministry of Health, as of the end of March, young doctors and nurses are currently receiving as much or more than what the authorities decided yesterday. Or in other words – "they did not increase the salaries of young doctors and nurses at all," explained the deputy from the PP-DB's PG.
Pandov sounded the alarm that with such an attitude from the state, there will soon be neither nurses nor doctors left to care for Bulgarian patients.
After that, Assen Vassilev took the floor again, emphasizing thatattempts to artificially control prices do not work and this has been economically proven.
Prices are controlled through competition and through the investigation of cartel agreements, which is the job of the CPC. If there is a global crisis, the best anti-crisis measure is for incomes to grow faster than prices, so as not to impoverish people, explained Vassilev.
In connection with MECH's invitation to meet today with PP-DB, “Velichye“, “Vazrazhdane“ and APS, Assen Vassilev explained that PP-DB will talk to MECH tomorrow, since he will travel to Varna today.