site.bta2015 State Budget Update Adopted

2015 State Budget Update  Adopted

Sofia, December 3 (BTA) - Late Wednesday evening, Bulgaria's Parliament updated the 2015 State budget by a vote of 100-27, with 11 abstentions.

Revenues were set at 19,080,353,900 leva, up from 18,247,592,900 leva planned. Tax revenues were raised to 17,324,547,700 leva from an estimate of 16,603,786,700 leva.

The updated expenditures were set at 9,444,286,200 leva, up from 9,056,486,200 leva.

Budget transfers were raised to 10,931,618,900 leva from the projected level of 10,436,918,900 leva.

The budget deficit was increased by about 49.4 million leva to 2,275,422,800 leva.

During the debate, Finance Minister Vladislav Goranov said that 400 million leva on the updated budget had been allocated for the completion of projects at the end of the 2007-2013 programming period. He argued that the Exchequer must cover the costs of projects whose completion will not be financed by Brussels due to financial corrections, overcontracting or exclusion of projects. The update is also needed because dramatic job cuts in some sectors are impossible, as well as to cover contingent expenditures on severance pay, the Finance Minister said.

Roumen Gechev MP of BSP-Left Bulgaria said that until October 25 the powerholders denied the need of a budget update. "Why did an update of expenditures become necessary after the Government reported revenue overperformance of more than 2,000 million leva?" he asked.

Yordan Tsonev MP of Movement for Rights and Freedoms said the budget update was a proof of the lack of tangible reforms or the failure of reforms in 2015.

Shortly before that, voting through the last remaining provisions of the 2016 State Budget Act, the MPs rejected unanimously a proposal for a reform which would have reduced the perks of the police, prison staff and the Armed Forces, the National Bodyguard Service and the State Intelligence Agency. The proposed reforms, some of which concerned severance pay, sparked massive police protests in November.

***

Also on Wednesday, Parliament voted, 36-33 with 61 abstentions, to reject a motion by the Patriotic Front to freeze the salaries of MPs, government ministers, the President and the Vice President, regional governors and political cabinet members. National Assembly Deputy Chairman and Patriotic Front Co-floor Krassimir Karakachanov urged the MPs to back the motion. He said that since the MPs did not want to set the minimum monthly pension at 300 leva, they should not set their pay rise at 300 leva a year.

Explaining GERB's position, Krassimir Velchev accused the Patriotic Front of populism and said that his party froze the MPs' salaries during its previous term in office, but this affected the salaries in all institutions, including the Administration of the President and the government.

Kornelia Ninova MP of BSP-Left Bulgaria said her parliamentary group would back the motion because the MPs' salaries should be proportionate to Bulgarians' incomes, not to those of parliamentarians in countries with much higher living standards.

Yordan Tsonev MP of Movement for Rights and Freedoms said he voted against because when someone proposes a freeze of their own pay, they either have an unreported side income or do not work hard enough to deserve that pay. "People in this chamber work and ought to say that they deserve this income," he said.