site.btaTrade Union Proposes Measures to Boost Incomes and Make Social Assistance More Accessible

Belchin, Sofia Region, July 12 (BTA) - The Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria (CITUB) insists that the maximum monthly pension in the country should be increased to 1,000 leva in 2018 from the current 910 leva, CITUB Executive Secretary Assya Goneva told a seminar for journalists in Belchin on July 11. The proposed rise of the cap on pensions is estimated to cost between 42 million and 45 million leva annually. The current limit of 910 leva per month prevents 45,500 pensioners from receiving the income they have actually earned.

CONTRIBUTORY INCOME

The CITUB also proposed that the maximum monthly contributory income be increased to 3,000 leva in 2018 from the current 2,600 leva. This will bring between 76 million and 78 million leva in additional revenues into the public social insurance budget. Between 89,000 and 90,000 people in Bulgaria earn more than 2,600 leva per month, which is where the additional revenues can come from.

The trade union called for accelerated increase of work-contingent pensions. They said the weight of each year of contributory service should rise annually, with the relevant quotient gradually going up from 1.2 in 2018 to 1.5 in 2024.

The differentiation between various groups of self-insured persons should be abolished and a minimum contributory income of 600 leva per month should be established for all of them. For farmers and tobacco producers, the contributory income should be 330 leva, the union said.

Another CITUB idea is that the 1 per cent unemployment insurance contribution rate should be doubled. "No other country in the EU has such a low unemployment insurance contribution rate," Goneva argued. The measure is expected to generate 250 million leva in additional annual revenues to the public social insurance budget compared with 2017 (the estimate is based on the April 2017 level).

The minimum unemployment benefit should be between 14 and 15 leva per day, which means about 300 leva per month. The measure will cost 56 million leva annually, the trade union said.

With seasonal, temporary and fixed-term employment becoming ever more common, people must be given cumulative rights, according to the CITUB. The current rule is that entitlement to unemployment benefits requires payment of social insurance contributions for at least nine consecutive months in the last 12 months. The union proposes a new rule whereby an unemployment benefit applicant must prove 12 months of social security payments in the last 24 months - and these 12 months do not have to be consecutive, because seasonal workers are often employed for five or six months in the year.

All of the measures listed above will bring a total of 475 million leva into the public social insurance budget annually, but at the same time they will require 913 million leva in additional annual public expenses, including 800 million leva in pension-related expenses.