For Bulgaria to be a rich country, the following components are key - education, investments, innovations and entrepreneurship, and institutions. According to the data presented, the share of higher education graduates in Bulgaria is above the average European level. Low labor productivity cannot be explained by the lack of education. This was stated by the chairman of “We Continue the Change“ and candidate for MP from the coalition “We Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria” (PP-DB) Assen Vassilev during the presentation: How a poor country can become rich, despite the crises, quoted by novini.bg
Secondly, it matters how we are equipped with capital. Our workers are worse equipped than the Chinese. We have left our workers with fewer machines, equipment, gear, etc., at the same time we want them to work faster and with better quality, he announced.
Currently, our economy has too much labor and too little automation and capital, and we are more or less at the level of Russia, Vassilev summarized.
According to him, against this background, the European directive on state aid, which other European countries, such as Romania and Germany, have not been applied. Europe invented it to support capital. However, this directive does not work in Bulgaria. Business needs to be helped to make larger investments and pay higher wages. This is the reason why one million Bulgarians are leaving the country for higher wages, he explained.
On the topic of entrepreneurship, Vassilev said that if we want it to drive the economy forward, we must allow small companies to stand up to large manufacturers. Many European countries are not ready to do so. He gave the example of the company "Tesla" in the US, which almost destroyed the American automotive industry. Entrepreneurship helps because it gives way to talent, allows us to live in Bulgaria, but it does not drive the economy forward.
According to the former finance minister, a drastic reduction in spending could be achieved if the state administration were cut. Another solution would be for the money to go back to taxpayers and businesses, through tax breaks, etc.