At the very beginning, when the changes to the Labor Code related to determining the minimum wage were introduced, GERB-SDF stated our reservations about how exactly the mechanism in the Labor Code is written. We currently do not support the government's decision on the amount of 660 euros for the minimum wage, because we believe that it was determined by an unclear mechanism and we ask the question why exactly 660 euros, and not 672.2 euros, which was actually the ceiling of the minimum wage. This was stated at a briefing in parliament by the deputy from the GERB-SDS PG, Iliyana Zhekova, a reporter for Novini.bg reported.
We repeatedly warned during the debates both in the committee and in the plenary hall, when we adopted the texts, that there was ambiguity about the mechanism itself, without defending the automatic mechanism that has been in effect so far. But we called for more specific texts, because according to the texts currently written in this way, only the Council of Ministers will determine the amount of the minimum wage, when there is no agreement between employers and unions, added the deputy from the GERB-SDS PG, Galya Vasileva.
You know what the position of the GERB political party is. As a right-wing conservative party, we have always believed that this automatism, which has existed until now with the determination of the minimum wage, is in practice to the detriment of Bulgarian business. So we support the elimination of this automatism in determining the minimum wage, but at the same time we have very serious reservations regarding the method of determining the minimum wage with the mechanism that was proposed. Colleagues have already explained that we have repeatedly stated our position, our reservations, we appealed to the authorities to listen to what we are proposing, unfortunately, this did not work and now we see that there is tension. We see that one of the unions did not support the determination of the minimum wage accordingly, so those who stated that they know, can, are ready, will succeed — we see that they neither know, nor can, nor will succeed. But what actually happens is that, since there is no agreement within the framework of the social dialogue with employers and unions, everything remains in the hands of the ruling party and they will set such a minimum wage as is profitable for them, said the deputy from the GERB-SDF parliamentary group and former Minister of Finance Temenuzhka Petkova.
In response to a question about the expectation that the ruling party will announce highlights from the budget, Petkova commented: "I am a little surprised in this situation. The government does not inform the National Assembly or at least the Budget and Finance Committee regarding the budget framework, which it is sending to the European Commission today. Bulgaria is in an excessive deficit procedure, I think they should have at least informed us of the main parameters of the budget framework. This did not happen. I do not know what this arrogance of the ruling party is due to. We also expect to hear from the European Commission what the parameters are. Yesterday, Prime Minister Radev was very sparing in the information he provided. A request is made to limit the deficit, shrink the deficit, reduce the debt, reduce expenses, but no one says how this will happen, by how much. The introduction of an excess profit tax is categorically confirmed, which is a very serious problem for Bulgarian business. This will in practice directly affect profitable, well-organized business. Of course, this means that they are not fulfilling their commitment - you know, they came to power with the promise that they would not increase taxes and would not introduce new ones, but the exact opposite is happening. The tax assessments of buildings will be increased, which will automatically lead to an increase in building taxes. So this is what we know.
Asked what the minimum wage should be, the former Finance Minister noted: "We could hardly say. This answer should be given by those in power. We see that they have proposed a minimum wage of 660 euros with a possible ceiling of 672 euros and 80 cents.