There is something deeply immoral in this strike and this does not apply to those who work in public transport, but to the leadership of the unions. They sit at their desks, receive a salary and a state subsidy, and force the workers to leave. And the logic is: "I should be fine, others should be bad". This is how the former mayor of Sofia, until 2005, Stefan Sofianski commented on the protest that turned into a blockade of public transport in Sofia, in an interview with the Bulgarian National Radio.
According to him, Mayor Terziev has reason to claim that the increase in wages, with the 15 million leva allocated by the government, will break the system: "It's all a matter of economics and budget. I don't know what the unions were doing when the budget was adopted and the parameters are clear in it. There is something deeply immoral in this strike and it does not concern those who work, but the union leadership. Obviously something is wrong, to demand such a large increase - the budget is wrong. But the serious liability remains in the union leadership, whose behavior is frankly immoral".
He pointed out that the government, then of Ivan Kostov, has introduced a system of financing municipalities, in which the state's intervention is much greater.
"Unfortunately, this financial independence of the municipalities has not yet been achieved and the problem must be resolved constitutionally to reverse the financial flows, for the municipalities to collect taxes. This system of the state is more political than truly economic", commented the former mayor of Sofia.
As for Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov and the provision of 15 million leva, he pointed out that he has a lot of experience working in the municipality, but according to Sofianski, "the discrepancy is so drastic that for me there is something more specific, something beyond the pure request for a salary increase": "There is a form of racketeering, I said who it comes from. And this is not on the municipality, but on the people. Do those at the union offices think about this?"
Stefan Sofianski recommended that analyses be made and that the prices of tickets and cards be raised in order to secure revenue in order to guarantee the increase in salaries.
"But not enough work has been done on both sides – The Sofia Municipality, and also the unions, have missed the budget parameters," the former mayor of the capital believes.
For him, the current mayor Vasil Terziev is not the main culprit, but he bears some blame.
"I also bore the blame when I didn't deal with the garbage and left the municipality. I didn't assess the garbage problem in time," admitted Sofianski.
If he becomes mayor again, hypothetically, he will first review the repairs in the central part of the city.
"Now construction is slow and expensive, it should be faster and cheaper. The duration of repairs in the center should not be more than 3 months, and ul. "Shishman" "they did it for 4 years", Sofianski pointed out.
When asked why he did not hold a referendum in 1997, when he was acting prime minister, on Bulgaria's entry into a currency board, he replied: "Because now the dollar would be 10,000 leva."
And he pointed out that the referendum requested by President Rumen Radev on the eurozone and the euro was a complete mistake: "The referendum is a tool in the hands of weak politicians who cannot make a decision and take responsibility. How did Stanishev and Borisov hug each other for the referendum on the "Belene" NPP and spend 10-12 million leva and what was the result? None! If the president had arguments not to introduce the euro, he should come out and say them and then the people would support him. The fundamental mistake is that entering the eurozone is presented as a political issue, while this is a purely economic-financial one.