site.btaParliament Definitively Increases Health Insurance Fund Budget, Approves More Flood Relief Aid

Sofia, August 4 (BTA) - Parliament definitively increased the 2014 budget of the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) by 225 million leva, passing an NHIF budget update on second reading on Monday. The increase includes 200 million leva for in-patient care and 25 million leva for cancer medicines.

The update passed conclusively at an extraordinary sitting of Parliament after three consecutive sittings last week were foiled by the absence of a quorum. But Monday's proceedings did not run smoothly, either. The GERB parliamentary group walked out early on, following an exchange of recriminations with Coalition for Bulgaria.

The MPs decided not to consider an update of the 2014 national budget on second reading, recognizing the fact that there was no consensus to revise the national budget. Nor did they discuss a proposed resolution to authorize the future caretaker government to take out external loans, because the proposal was eventually withdrawn by the sponsoring GERB party.

Parliament resolved that the 225 million leva increase of the NHIF budget will be financed from expenditure cuts at government agencies. Therefore, the lawmakers also indirectly revised the 2014 National Budget Act to provide for the transfer of 225 million leva to the NHIF budget.

The fact that the National Budget Act was amended indirectly through the revisions to the NHIF Budget Act sparked speculation about the possible illegitimacy of the amendments. Yordan Tsonev, the Budget and Finance Committee Chairman, said it is up to law experts to determine whether this is illegitimate or not. Tsonev noted that the national budget itself needs updating.

Parliament further resolved to provide an additional 50 million leva to mitigate the effects of current devastating floods. The money was taken from planned investments in the field of energy.

Kornelia Ninova of Coalition for Bulgaria said the additional 50 million leva in flood relief aid is badly needed in the disaster areas. According to her, the mere 5 million leva available in the disaster response fund is not enough to repair the damage and help the people who have lost their homes and crops in the floods over the last month.

The lawmakers refused to consider a motion by Budget and Finance Committee Chairman Yordan Tsonev, who proposed that the depositors of the troubled Corporate Commercial Bank should receive their money (up to a ceiling of 100,000 euro) before the bank is delicensed, provided that bank secrecy is lifted on those depositors who are senior public officials. The possibility to consider the proposal was rejected by a vote of 40 to 32, with 26 abstentions.

Deputy Parliament Chairwoman Maya Manolova, who was leading the proceedings, explained that Tsonev's proposal was not made within the required timeframe and was not supported by the Budget and Finance Committee, which he chairs. Movement for Rights and Freedoms Chairman Lyutvi Mestan countered by saying that this is merely a technical excuse. He argued that Tsonev's proposal should be approved, because in the case of Corporate Commercial Bank it is in the best interests of society to lift bank secrecy on all public officials connected with the bank.

The GERB parliamentary group walked out of the plenary proceedings early on, following an exchange of recriminations and stating that they will not vote to "enslave" future governments. GERB's Menda Stoyanova and Dessislava Atanassova both warned that the NHIF budget will have to be revised one more time later in the year.

GERB argued that the NHIF budget should not be increased through expenditure cuts at government agencies, because this could block the agencies' work, leaving them no money even to pay wages to their staff. Stoyanova warned of a 97 million leva shortfall in the Interior Ministry, which could affect the incomes of police officers and other employees.

The party also objected to using money from energy investment programmes in order to finance the 50 million leva flood relief package.

The biggest "time bomb" which GERB said would blow up the future caretaker government and would destabilize the country lies in the proposal that the full amount of guaranteed deposits at Corporate Commercial Bank should be paid out to the depositors by August 21, even though the auditors may not be ready with their final report by then and the bank may not have lost its licence yet or may not have been declared bankrupt. This has been proposed without regard for the need to incur 1.5 billion leva in additional government debt, Stoyanova said.

For her part, Atanassova warned of a 491 million leva gap in the NHIF budget by the year's end.

Coalition for Bulgaria, in turn, accused GERB that when they were in power between 2009 and 2013, the government took 1.4 billion leva from the fiscal reserve and gave it to NHIF. According to them, GERB inherited a fiscal reserve of over 8 billion leva, but at the end of their term the reserve was 4 billion leva.

Roumen Gechev of Coalition for Bulgaria argued that in order to secure 225 million leva for the NHIF budget increase, it is better to make expenditure cuts in some government agencies than to increase the government deficit.

The debate on the NHIF budget update was aired live on Bulgarian National Television and Bulgarian National Radio. Finance Minister Petar Chobanov was in the debating chamber.

At the start of the legislature's sitting, Parliament Chairman Mihail Mikov expressed sympathy for the victims of devastating rainstorms and floods in various parts of Bulgaria.

Mikov said two MPs of the Ataka party, Dimiter Avramov and Galen Monev, have bid to leave their parliamentary group.

At the end of the day's proceedings of Parliament, Deputy Chairwoman Manolova announced that the last plenary sitting of the current Parliament had come to a close. Manolova wished everyone a successful and fair campaign for the October 5 early parliamentary elections. She said that this Parliament has been short-lived and has been working in difficult conditions under tighter civil society control. It has nevertheless adopted many laws in the best interests of individuals and businesses, Manolova said.