The governing majority of "Progressive Bulgaria" adopted during the meeting of the Budget and Finance Committee in the National Assembly three draft decisions to assign the Court of Accounts to conduct an audit of the consolidated financial program of the Ministry of Finance, the State Social Insurance (SSI) and the Road Infrastructure Agency. (API).
The result that the authorities expect from the three audits is whether there will be a structural imbalance in spending and whether they are outstripping revenues, news.bg informs.
Margarita Nikolova, Deputy Chairperson of the Court of Accounts, who also attended the Budget and Finance Committee, assured that the Court will fulfill all legal responsibilities and the audits assigned by the MPs.
During the debates, MP from "Vazrazhdane" Tsoncho Ganev asked what the ultimate goal of the submitters of the draft decisions is if they find an imbalance in spending? What will you do, will you reduce pensions?, Ganev asked.
MP from "Progressive Bulgaria" and Deputy Chairman of the Committee on Budget and Finance Stefan Belchev responded to Ganev, assuring him that pensions would not be reduced as a result of the three audits.
Former Minister of Finance, and now a member of parliament from GERB-SDF Temenuzhka Petkova also took the floor, expressing the opinion that it is not right for the parliament to determine exactly what type of audit should be, and that the Court of Auditors itself should check what is and is not right to check.
"For the first time I see such motives, which define the tasks of the control bodies and the Court of Auditors. What are the expectations of the parliamentarians is one thing, and what kind of audit the Court of Auditors will perform is quite another. The motives must be revised and the public significance of the audit decision and why it is important for society must be justified," Petkova argued.
PP leader and former Finance Minister Assen Vassilev said he agreed with Temenuzhka Petkova's thesis. "The signal you are sending to society is that pensioners are the reason why there is not enough money in the state. These audits are artillery preparation either to freeze pensions or to raise pension insurance. There are no other reasons for these audits," Vassilev criticized the policies of "Progressive Bulgaria".
He asked the government what they would do if the expenses turned out to be more than the revenues. "Bulgaria is not being robbed by pensioners, but on other grounds", commented the former finance minister.
Stefan Belchev replied to Asen Vassilev not to play with people's fears, specifying that "Progressive Bulgaria" would be the last to want to freeze pensions or raise pension insurance contributions.
The MP from "Democratic Bulgaria" Vladislav Panev asked the government whether they would use the reports from the Court of Accounts as an indulgence to increase social security contributions in the coming years.
The Chairman of the Budget and Finance Committee Konstantin Prodanov assured the MPs that the government would not use the audits from the Court of Accounts as an indulgence to raise social security contributions or freeze pensions.
MP Atidje Alieva-Veli announced that the MRF would support all three draft resolutions to conduct an audit of public funds.
Venko Sabrutev, on the other hand, took issue with the government and asked whether they would conduct an audit of the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF), where, according to him, the most theft was taking place.