site.btaNational Assembly Defeats Motion to Reduce MPs' Wages and Leave from Work

Sofia, May 4 (BTA) - The National Assembly on Friday defeated a motion by the opposition BSP For Bulgaria parliamentary group to cut and freeze the MPs' remuneration and reduce the duration of their leave from work. The vote was 65 in favour and 48 against, with 55 abstentions. The proposal was presented as a revision to the National Assembly rules of procedure and was only supported by the left wing, while the rest voted against it or abstained from voting.

During the debate in the chamber, the incumbents said the bill was populist and made a counter-proposal, saying that the MPs' wages could be set according to each person's participation in the work of the legislature.

The rejected bill proposed fixing an MP's monthly wage at 2,976 leva, which was the level at the end of the previous Parliament's tenure, and keeping it unchanged throughout the current Parliament's tenure. Another idea in the bill was that the National Assembly's recess should be only from August 1 to August 31, and the duration of the Christmas and Easter holidays for the lawmakers should be the same as for all working people.

"We propose that an MP's wage be reduced by about 600 leva a month, which will make it possible to save 15 million leva in the next three years," said Kroum Zarkov (BSP For Bulgaria), giving details from the bill.

BSP leader Kornelia Ninova said that, according to the Labour Code, an employee may have 20 days of leave from work annually and may also go off work on official holidays.

Danail Kirilov (GERB) noted that the Bulgarian Parliament has more sittings than any other parliament in the 28 EU member states. He provided data about the German Bundestag.

Peter Petrov (United Patriots) supported the idea about fairer evaluation of the MPs' work. He said their performance could be assessed at the beginning of each ear, based on the previous year.

Kristina Taskova (Volya) accused BSP For Bulgaria of cynicism.

After the vote, Yordan Tsonev (Movement for Rights and Freedoms) said he had voted against the bill because "such self-humiliation should not be supported by any means."