site.btaABV - Movement 21 Coalition Largely Supports Unionist Ideas

ABV - Movement 21 Coalition Largely Supports Unionist Ideas

Sofia, March 13 (BTA) - The views of the ABV - Movement 21 Coalition largely coincide with the ones, set forth in the Memorandum of the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria (CITUB) on the Social, Economic and Political Development of Bulgaria, which is addressed to the political parties participating in the election campaign. ABV leader Konstantin Prodanov said this at a meeting with CITUB.

The ABV-Movement 21 Coalition supports the CITUB idea of gradual restoration of the progressive taxation through the introduction of a tax threshold, equivalent to the country's minimum working wage, and then imposing a 20 per cent charge on the maximum contributory income and the amount exceeding it. According to the CITUB document, the maximum contributory income should be equivalent to ten minimum working wages.

Prodanov presented the Coalition's opinion that there should be an objective mechanism for an increase of the minimum working wage, based on economic and social criteria, which coincides with the CITUB view.

The idea of ABV is to increase of the minimum working wage by 10 per cent until it reaches 700 leva.

Both CITUB and the coalition share the view that people working under more specific conditions and exposed to greater health risks should be entitled to early retirement, while people, employed in the administration, should not be entitled to this privilege.

Taking a question about the energy sector, the ABV leader said that a large part of the financial imbalances in the system can be attributed to the long-term contracts signed with the US thermal power plants.

The right approach is to build a nuclear facility in Belene and not to extend the existing N-plant in Kozloduy because there is a higher level of project readiness in Belene.