Here are shocking official documents and numbers about the salaries and management of state-owned companies.
I asked Deputy Prime Minister Galab Donev a question under the APIA - how many state-owned companies are there in Bulgaria and what are the salaries of their board members?
This was announced by the leader of "Unruly Bulgaria", Cornelia Ninova.
I received startling answers:
1. The Ministry of Finance does not know. Really! Galab Donev, who has been prime minister twice, does not know. His two deputies, who have been ministers and deputy ministers for many years and have distributed the money, do not know. They refer me to the Agency for Public Enterprises. Okay, we're going there. And here comes shock number two.
2. They tell me that there are 260 state-owned enterprises in Bulgaria, but they only monitor 56 and give me information only about them. That is, 204 state-owned companies are in the twilight zone. What happens there, who manages, how they manage, the government does not know.
3. The information is for 2024. Can you imagine? They don't have any more current. Both a little and old.
4. And now comes the most interesting thing. Of these 56 companies, 39 do not pay dividends to the state. For example, forestry, hospitals, and water supply companies do not give a single leva of dividend to the budget. But hey, they pay fat salaries to their directors. Tens of thousands per month, regardless of the financial condition of the enterprise.
For example, in the case of the glaring problem with water in Bulgaria, the board of the VIK holding divided 739,000 leva.
They are also making a big profit in the energy sector. They don't care that the price for people and businesses is constantly rising. In Bulgartransgaz they divided 1,118,000 leva. This is 13,309 per person per month.
In the ESO (electricity system operator), they are crazy. "Only" 1,063,000 is the income of those who manage it.
In the RVD (air traffic control) - 848,000 for 3 people - 23,555 leva per month. Etc.
I can't list them all here, the report is over 120 pages, but I assure you that it is shocking arrogance and injustice. This is a monstrous imbalance in public salaries.
The data is for 2024. At that time, two caretaker governments of President Radev and Prime Minister Glavchev were in power. Some of the current ministers were ministers then too. So that they don't pretend that they didn't eat onions or smell onions and justify themselves with the previous ones. The previous ones are you - the current ones. This disgrace cannot continue. The boards of companies have been turned into a feeding ground for aunts, cousins, wives and husbands.
The managers mumble that they will still do an analysis. What kind of analysis was it, everything is clear as day. They are starting to make changes in the wrong direction. The salaries of directors should not exceed that of the president. How can a director of a loss-making enterprise receive 7,000 euros?
The right decision would be for the salary to depend on the company's results. Whoever manages well and the assets, turnover, and workers' salaries grow should receive a high salary. Whoever does not achieve results - no. And you know - state ownership is not a bad phrase. It is not a question of the form of ownership - private or state, but of the person. Whoever is competent and honest will manage well in both cases. History has provided enough examples of this.
P.S. I will share detailed information by sector - energy, water supply, agriculture, sports, economy, culture, etc. and by name about the companies here in the coming days