At its meeting today, the parliamentary social commission did not accept the decision proposed by the PP-DB, with which the NOI would have to pay the pensions of the pensioners from July 1 with an 11% increase, as laid down in the budget for 2024.
The votes of the deputies present at the meeting did not reach, as the representatives of GERB did not take part in the voting, and those of DPS and "Vazrazhdane" did. they did not appear at all.
However, something interesting happened in the discussions. In addition to commenting on the small consumer basket, the official deputy minister of labor and social care Lazar Lazarov surprisingly also talked about the side income of pensioners, "Now" reported.
His words were too vague to get any idea of what he was talking about, but the deputy minister linked the matter to upcoming changes in the pension system.
"We will provide this data in the course of public discussions. You know that there were initiatives in the NRA to report with the income registers. And to be honest with you, the picture is very different from what we expect. We say: "There are only a few thousand people on the minimum pension for length of service and age". It turns out that they have significant additional income, and this will be subject to discussion. I hope there will be a cross-party consensus in the changes to the pension system," comments Lazarov.
The last time pensioners' side incomes were talked about was when GERB and DPS proposed Easter supplements for low pensions.
This was one of the principle arguments against the approach of both parties - recipients of low pensions are not in every case poor and in need of a supplement. What kind of side income pensioners have, however, cannot have an impact on pensions received for insurance service and age - these pensions should be strictly related to the person's insurance contribution.