site.btaUPDATED TUs Oppose Caretaker Cabinet's Proposal to Keep 2022 State Budget for 2023

The trade unions did not support a possible extension of the effect of the 2022 State Budget Act at Monday's extraordinary meeting of the National Council for Tripartite Cooperation (NCTC), Deputy Prime Minister and Labour and Social Policy Minister Lazar Lazarov said. The draft law was backed by the employers' organizations.

Lazarov, who chaired the meeting, said: "The draft law makes it possible to pay the increased social security payments. Speculation that they will be reduced has been refuted. On the contrary, some of them will increase." For instance, financial support under the People with Disabilities Act will rise by 22% since it is linked automatically to the official poverty line.

On Monday, the government, employers and trade unions discussed a single item: a draft law on the implementation of provisions of the 2022 State Budget Act, the 2022 Public Social Insurance Budget Act and the 2022 National Health Insurance Fund Budget Act.

Finance Minister Rositza Velkova said: "There will again be a pension increase next year. All support measures for businesses and households will continue. The municipalities can rest assured that school and kindergarten heating and street lighting bills will be covered. The draft law also regulates the financing of contingency and emergency activities."

The caretaker cabinet proposes an extension of the effect of the present budget instead of a new budget, the Finance Minister said. A new budget must reflect the policies of a government backed by a majority in Parliament, which has not taken shape yet, she said.

On October 25, Velkova said at a hearing in Parliament the caretaker Cabinet would introduce an "extending bill" to retain the effect of all policies and support measures for households and businesses and the amount of pensions until the election of a regular government. She recalled that such a bill was tabled last year. If no regular cabinet is elected, a caretaker cabinet could implement the budget by such an extending bill, as the regular government did at the beginning of 2022.  

The deadline for the submission of next year's draft budget to Parliament is October 31, 2022.

The trade unions said this budget was one of the worst options because it would freeze the minimum wage at BGN 710 and no income tax threshold would be approved.

The trade unions objected to keeping the minimum wage at BGN 710 at an October 20 NCTC meeting. The Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria (CITUB) insists on its increase to BGN 770 or BGN 780, while the Podkrepa Confederation of Labour wants to see it raised to BGN 850.

CITUB chief economist Lyuboslav Kostov said: "An extension until an unspecified date is suggested for all parameters laid down so far. Given the surge in inflation, an income freeze policy does not meet the public's expectations."

In contrast, the employer organizations approved of the draft law. Bulgarian Industrial Association Chairman Dobri Mitrev commented: "It will allow the policies pursued this year to continue until a regular budget for 2023 is adopted. This draft law offers strong guarantees of stability."

Bulgarian Industrial Capital Association Chairman Vassil Velev said: "This is the only correct approach. Any other approach is fraught with risks that are completely unjustified and unnecessary."