We expected a Tripartite Council to be officially convened before Easter to discuss the anti-crisis measures we proposed. Plamen Dimitrov, president of the Confederation of Bulgarian Trade Unions (CITUB), told the Bulgarian National Radio, specifying that they will force the government to talk to them, but he cannot guarantee whether they will make decisions in the right direction.
"If they do not make the right decisions, people will suffer further, unfortunately. Because regardless of whether the price of fuel falls, there will be higher than predicted inflation and the price of everything that has risen will not return".
Unofficially, there is a reaction from some ministers, Dimitrov also pointed out:
"Meanwhile, we see some measures that appear in the direction we talked about, but fragmented and systematically disorganized, which I do not think is the right approach".
He emphasized that first it must be clear who the affected businesses are and how they will affect inflationary pressure if they are supported:
"Will there be control of possible inflationary shocks and how to support vulnerable groups of the population. This is the logic of our proposal".
According to Dimitrov, the 20 euros in aid given by Andrey Gyurov's government to those in need due to fuel prices are "helicopter money" that are "handed out without being sure whether this is really the best way to help those most in need, and our proposal was to target things".
According to him, support for the transport sector is also piecemeal and should include public transport:
"We looked at the measures in more than 40 countries and the IAEA has a good bulletin, and the European Commission, and the neighbors - Romania, Greece, Croatia - all the measures start with public transport being financed - railways, public transport to maintain prices, there should be no increases, so that people can avoid getting into their cars because of the expensive fuel".
Plamen Dimitrov pointed out that many countries have introduced a ceiling on fuel surcharges:
"Our proposal was a 10% surcharge for the wholesaler and up to 20% - for the retailer. The Gas Association and others claim that they are currently below these percentages. If this is the case, there will be no problem in setting these anchors so that they do not go beyond them if other factors go up. The business supported our proposal, we commented on it with them, so we have specific numbers. 20 cents per liter of fuel for transport companies. We offer up to 500 liters per month for light trucks - all companies that have such. And 1000 liters per month for heavy goods vehicles and buses".
Regarding energy subsidies, he explained that the CITUB proposal is very clear:
"The measures that are being taken must guarantee that there is money in the Energy Security Fund at least until the end of the calendar year. To maintain the price from July 1, when the new regulatory period for households comes".