site.btaAcademy of Sciences Contemplates Protests in January

Sofia, December 17 (BTA) - The General Assembly of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (BAS) will meet on January 8 to consider a possible protest march in downtown Sofia sometime between January 15 and 19, which may be followed by other similar actions, protest leader Prof. Boiko Georgiev told a news conference on Sunday.

The BAS insist that in 2018 they should be given at least 98 million leva from the state budget, which they say is the bare minimum and would equal the level provided in 2009, instead of the 83 million leva approved in the budget scheme. Prof. Slavcheva said: "The budget for 2018 is another slap on the face of the BAS scientists. Tensions in the Academy are mounting."

The scientists are also planning to alert National Ombudsman Maya Manolova about what they see as a breach of their constitutional right to decent pay matching the work done. They will also notify the Representation of the European Commission in Bulgaria, the Sofia embassies of the EU member states and international scientific organizations.

The BAS demands 38 million leva in targeted funding from the government in order to bring pay rates in the system up to the level in the other systems functioning under the Ministry of Education and Science.

The monthly scholarship for doctoral candidates with the BAS and higher schools should be increased from 450 to 765 leva, which will be 1.5 times the minimum wage in Bulgaria, more than the 500 leva planned in the budget scheme for 2018, the BAS said. They also demand targeted funding according to the results of their work, based on a 2017 evaluation by the Ministry of Education and Science which ranked the BAS institutes in the top positions.