Parents protested again in front of the Council of Ministers building, demanding changes in policies to support families with children. The demonstration under the slogan “Motherhood is not charity“ is being held for the second time and is organized by the initiative “Parents for Dignified Motherhood“, BTA reported.
The protesters are demanding that the compensation in the second year of maternity be 70% of the social security income, but not less than the minimum wage for the country. Among other demands are annual indexation of maternity and child benefits, as well as equal child benefits for all working parents, regardless of the working parent's income.
We categorically demand that this budget include 75% compensation for not using maternity and child leave, and next year at the latest, it should be 100%, said organizer Ivanka Todorova. We insist on higher compensation and higher compensation for mothers of twins and triplets. It is absurd to raise twins for 378 euros. This is not enough for one child, she added.
Todorova noted that so far only the parliamentary group of “Vazrazhdane” has submitted two of the parents' proposals. Yesterday, in an online meeting with “We continue the change” We discussed our proposals, and tomorrow we are going to hold one with “Democratic Bulgaria”, she added.
We sent letters to the ombudsman, the president and the prime minister. If the budget remains in this form, we will insist on a veto, because it is completely discriminatory towards mothers, Todorova said. We will continue with the protests if our demands are not heard, she added.
There were protests all over the country today.
On July 1, parents protested with a demand to increase the amount of maternity benefits. At a briefing, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Galab Donev indicated that the parents' demands correspond to increases in budget payments for this year.
We recall that on July 1, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Galab Donev and Minister of Labor and Social Policy Natalia Efremova discussed with representatives of the civil initiative “Parents for Dignified Motherhood“ proposals for changes in policies to support families with children.