Government, business and unions are discussing the new rules for the minimum wage. The formula is expected to be adopted by the end of August.
There was talk of its amount being around 680 euros. "The problem with the minimum wage has been the big discussion for 20 years now. It is difficult to find the intersection point, but we are now forced to find it. The directive is from 2022. Our deadline was November 24, 2024 to include it in our legislation," said former Minister of Labor and Social Policy Hristina Hristova in the program "Denyat ON AIR".
In her words, the interesting thing about directives as acts of European law is that the EU does not say how to achieve the reference values or results and goals set by the European Commission. "So far, nothing like what happened this week has been observed. A principled understanding and agreement has been reached between the social partners and the state. I am hopeful that a solution will be found," commented Hristova. Economist Assoc. Prof. Dr. Shteryo Nozharov, for his part, told Bulgaria ON AIR that he is cautious about the progress achieved.
"So far, the progress achieved is that, according to the government and the social partners, Article 5, paragraph 2 of the directive says what it says. The four criteria are literally written in the same order. The second progress is that Article 5, paragraph 4, states that the adequacy test is 50% of the average wage, respectively. The government and the social partners have said that they read the directive and it says what it says," he explained. According to Assoc. Prof. Nozharov, 99% of the work remains to be done.
"So far, 1% has been done. By what economic indicators will each of these criteria be measured," he asked.
Hristova pointed out that there is no statement after the working process of the social partners and the state. "This time, the directive is read well and consistently. We must bear in mind that the minimum wage is a payment for participation in labor. And at the moment there are imbalances. They will remain. "Collective bargaining is being discussed in many places," the former Minister of Labor and Social Policy pointed out.
There should be a minimum price for labor in Bulgaria, she noted.
"The countries in which there is no minimum wage have strong collective bargaining. Our problem is that we are starting from a low starting level. The sharp increase in wages creates inflation", added Assoc. Prof. Nozharov.
With our vision for the minimum wage, we must escape from a major problem, for which we have a punitive procedure, believes Hristova: "I am always worried about its sanction part. The problem is excessively inflated, large state expenditures".