site.btaSocialists Present Vision for Country's Governance, Alternative to Present System

Sofia, July 21 (BTA) - A national meeting of the opposition Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) here on Saturday presented a Vision for Bulgaria project for the development of the country in four priority areas: economy and incomes, regional development, healthcare, and education. Through this project, the party applies for the country's governance and an alternative to the present system, BSP leader Kornelia Ninova said during the project's presentation.

"We are not offering an alternative to the ruling GERB party but an alternative to the system. The system kills, as the mothers of disabled children said in their recent protests, and that is why this system should be changed," Ninova argued. Her party begins talks on this change and will put its project to a broad public debate in the hopes that Bulgarians will hear the Left wing's ideas.

Ninova went on to say that the BSP offers to put an end to the plunder of national assets, specifying that her party is not against concessions per se, but the balance has been lost and should be restored. The strategic sites the privatization of which is prohibited, should be banned from the list of concessions. Concessions should not be granted on the Bulgarian State Railways, ports and airports, Bulgarian Posts, multi-profile hospitals, beaches, the water and sewerage sector, Sofia's NDK convention centre, the film industry, the Bulgarian Energy Holding, and other companies, the Socialist leader said, adding that these enterprises should be governed on a competition instead of a party principle.

We should start building our own Bulgarian agriculture instead of one entirely dependent on EU funding, Ninova also said.

Education should be adapted to the digital generation, the BSP leader argued. She called for the use of innovative educational technologies, such as cloud technologies and studying on networks. An emphasis should be put on good upbringing and culture, Ninova noted, adding that contemporary Christian values are more precious than the gender ideology. Bulgaria needs free kindergartens, a single textbook for a grade in all schools in the country, and public resources for State and municipal schools, she went on to say.
 
In the area of education, the BSP proposes: a reduction of VAT on medicinal products and food; annual pricing by the State of medicinal products on the reimbursement list; a ban on the export of medicinal products; and replacement of the commercial status of hospitals with a new status corresponding to the social character, nature and purpose of healthcare.

All the changes listed in the Vision for Bulgaria project have a single goal: better life for Bulgarians, a turn in the demographic catastrophe, and a foreign policy based on Bulgaria's national interest, Ninova summarized.

Also during the meeting, Ninova proposed that the party discuss a revision to the BSP Congress' decision on the entry in the Eurozone and the adoption of the euro. In her words, if this discussion leads to another, more reasonable, more useful and more important for the peoples and national interest decision, there is no reason why the Congress' decision should not be revised. Life and the situation have changed and the BSP should be adequate to this change, she added. 

"Let us not be hasty. Let us slow down with the daily insistence on the euro and our entry in the Eurozone. There are very serious talks to come," Ninova said. She argued that even foreign experts have warned Bulgaria against entering the euro area.