The social system remains stable, despite the lack of a regular budget and the official government, but the BSP is in a difficult situation. This was stated by the Minister of Labor and Social Policy Borislav Gutsanov in “The Day Begins with Georgi Lyubenov“ on BNT, insisting on holding a party congress before the elections and a report on the mistakes made by the party leadership.
"There is no threat to the most vulnerable segments of the population in this turbulence we are in. Despite the fact that there is no regular budget, we managed to take certain actions so as to protect the most vulnerable people in the country with several of our decisions. At my suggestion, an increase in the minimum wage was submitted to the Council of Ministers. And from 1077 leva it became 1213 or from tomorrow 620.20 euros. Which is nearly a 14% increase. I do not believe that we should be attractive to investors with low wages, but with high technologies, with the rule of law and with clear actions - everyone knows what would happen in this country when they invest, and not by paying people little", Gutsanov emphasized.
As a successful move, he outlined the raising of the poverty line by nearly 20% - to 390 euros.
"This automatically means more funds for people with disabilities and more social benefits. Thirdly - the Swiss rule. We managed to include it in a law, which you also know was tense about how much it should be. So from July 1, 2 million and 100,000 people, that's how many pensioners in Bulgaria will be able to have a pension that will be adapted to the Swiss rule. Next, along with all the disasters that befell us, in Kardzhali region, we made it so that these people could take a little more money, 1,550 euros more than what is due by law - three times the poverty line. Yes, it may not be much, but in the end, these are some funds that we managed to make in the absence of a budget.
Gutsanov admitted that he regrets several things.
"Every social minister who stays in his place should want more for the people. I think that is right and proper. I only regret that due to the lack of budget, we were unable to make the second year a maternity year, since we had submitted them to the National Assembly, there is even a decision of the National Assembly on this issue - to increase them once and compensate women a second time, young mothers who go to work in the second year should be compensated not by 50%, but by 75%, taking from these funds. I hope that with the adoption of the regular budget for the year, this will remain within the limits."
The second thing that the Social Minister expressed regret about is that the BSP parliamentary group has not gathered the courage to submit laws on mark-ups in stores.
"There is an increase in the price of goods, but this is not only due to the euro. Unfortunately, in our grocery stores we see goods that are more expensive than the same ones in Austria, which is not normal. And I regret that no laws were passed in the National Assembly to limit the outrageous price increase, and not so much from the producer, let him take more funds, and this money and the increase in the price of the final product comes from the resellers and traders, which I do not consider normal. We have a huge deficit in the parliamentary group, this is my opinion. "
The Minister of Social Affairs described the program "I Choose Bulgaria" as successful.
"There are over 3,500 applications from our fellow citizens who have gone outside Bulgaria and want to return. Which means that we have hit on something that I think is really very important. Because these are educated, capable young people who want to return to our country."
Regarding the introduction of the euro, Gutsanov said:
"There is no tension anywhere regarding receiving pensions, receiving benefits and supporting the most vulnerable. We managed to guarantee money until the end of the year for people who have a hot lunch.
There were no serious upheavals in society."
Borislav Gutsanov is of the opinion that the BSP Congress should not be canceled.
"I am one of the initiators of having the Congress. I do not believe that this is the right action to cancel the Congress at today's plenum and I do not think that votes will be gathered for such a cancellation. I think we really need to go through Congress and make decisions there about where and how the BSP is going, what mistakes have been made, what good things have happened."
When asked if he would run for BSP chairman, Gutsanov replied:
"Let's get to Congress and decide what is best. What is important to me right now is that the social ministry continues to develop in the way we managed to impose it over the last year, that there is peace in this sector, because we did not allow tension."
Regarding coming to power, Gutsanov commented:
"A year ago there was a BSP Congress. There were two fundamentally different tendencies, one led by me, the other by Mr. Zafirov. Then the Congress chose the tendency around Mr. Zafirov. Whether it was right or wrong, who supported one or the other tendency - let everyone draw their own conclusions and conclusions. I believe that at all times the leader who will lead a party should be selected correctly, especially when we are talking about the BSP. Because this is a party that has not left parliament for more than 120 years and is a party that has had the greatest influence in our country for all these years. It is crucial who will lead the BSP. The important thing is to properly report the results - where we got to, what was done and why the BSP is in a difficult situation - there is no point in hiding these things, regardless of the fact that we participated in a government where the ministers did well and where the BSP had to participate in the government if we did not want it to be election after election."