Until the country enters the eurozone, CITUB begins monthly monitoring of the prices of 20 basic goods from the so-called small consumer basket, reports the Bulgarian National Radio. The monitoring is in implementation of the Memorandum of Cooperation signed a week ago between the union and the government in connection with the introduction of the euro and preventing unjustified increases in the prices of goods and services.
Following the positive convergence report, the Confederation of Bulgarian Trade Unions (CITUB) is demanding that an additional 62 million leva be allocated to the budget for a 5 percent wage increase from July 1 in a number of underfunded areas, including the public media BNR, BNT and BTA.
Until now, the CITUB has been conducting quarterly observations of changes in consumer prices and the so-called subsistence income. The new observation will be of the small consumer basket every month and will cover the 28 regions of the country and 17 groups of goods, explained the director of the Institute for Social and Trade Union Research and Training at the CITUB, Lyuboslav Kostov:
"Bread products, including flour, bread, rice. Eggs, milk, vegetables, fruits, gasoline we will monitor. To these we add the banichka as a breakfast, a cup of coffee and mineral water".
The goal is to guarantee consumer protection by preventing unjustified increases in the prices of goods and services. After the Memorandum of Cooperation signed with the government in connection with the introduction of the euro, the union will also participate in the so-called public council with the Commission for Protection of Competition and the Commission for Consumer Protection and will also prepare special leaflets with an emphasis on prices and incomes.
Now is the time to turn our attention to income growth and to underfunded areas, including healthcare, the "Road Infrastructure" Agency and the public media, said the president of the Confederation of Bulgarian Trade Unions Plamen Dimitrov:
"The positive convergence report on the eurozone opens the door for us to talk about how and at what speed incomes converge in the common European home, to which we belong and the common currency, which we will enter at the beginning of 2026".
Dimitrov added that the union's request for an additional 62 million leva for a 5 percent wage increase from July 1 is only 0.06 percent of the total spending in the 2025 budget of over 96 billion leva.