site.btaSocialist Party Celebrates Labour Day

Socialist Party Celebrates Labour Day

Sofia, May 1 (BTA) - The Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) held a rally in central Sofia Sunday to celebrate Labour Day. In a speech delivered at the rally, leader Mihail Mikov called for a fight for more rights and fairer pay for Bulgarian, European and world workers.

Mikov said that in the past 30 years labour rights in Europe and the world have been crushed. Today Bulgarian workers receive 4.5-fold less that the average European worker although Bulgaria's economic output based on the purchasing power parity is 2.5-fold less with the EU average.

MEP Iliana Yotova called for the immediate termination of the Transatlantic and Trade Investment Partnership agreement with the US and Canada. In her words, "negotiations are conducted behind the backs of all European citizens and they will lead to loss of jobs, labour rights and pay."

Kaloyan Pargov, leader of the party's Sofia chapter, said that the young and the educated people are leaving the country because of the lack of prospects here. "We want the young to return and live here, we want fair working conditions," he said.

The BSP predicted that there would be early general elections, while Mikov said he was ready to assume the party leadership again.