site.bta Opposition Says Expectations of Economic Growth during Government's First 100 Days Were Not Fulfilled

Opposition Says Expectations of Economic Growth during Government's First 100 Days Were Not Fulfilled


Sofia, February 16 (BTA) - Cabinet members' reviews about the
first 100 days of the second government of Prime Minister Boyko
Borissov were followed on Monday by assessments by the
opposition and trade unions.

THE OPPOSITION

Expectations of economic growth during the government's first
100 days were not fulfilled, Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP)
Deputy Chairman Dragomir Stoynev said, speaking at a BTA-hosted
news conference in Stara Zagora, Southern Bulgaria.

The government has no concrete vision and no long-term
commitments, Stoynev said.

BSP favours the reintroduction of the score-based system for
calculating the size of pensions, he said. The period of a
person's study in a university should be recognized as
pensionable service, as it was in the past. Retirement rules
should be adopted in the systems of the Interior Ministry and
the Defence Ministry, Stoynev said. According to him, it is OK
to give 20 months' wages to a retiring military officer, but not
 to an administrator in the Defence Ministry or the Interior
Ministry.

The left-wing supports small and medium-sized enterprises and
their access to financing, he said.

While BSP approves of housing rehabilitation, it is opposed to
the way it is carried out, because the effort is reduced to
thermal insulation of buildings. Stoynev said that in Germany,
occupants move out of their homes to allow comprehensive
rehabilitation of welded elements and reinforcement of concrete
slab joints. He pointed to a lack of official estimates about
how rehabilitation will improve the energy efficiency of the
buildings.

THE TRADE UNIONS

The trade unions believe that the government has performed
relatively well so far, Confederation of Independent Trade
Unions in Bulgaria (CITUB) President Plamen Dimitrov said,
speaking to journalists.

Bulgaria is doing less poorly than it did three months ago in
terms of political and financial stability and in terms of hopes
 for improvement, Dimitrov said. A rather elaborate ruling
coalition has really got down to work, although perhaps not in
the best possible way, he noted.

According to CITUB, Health Minister Peter Moskov's performance
is particularly poor. Dimitrov recalled that health care reforms
 caused the fall of two US presidents.

Among the government's accomplishments, he singled out the
solution of the problem with Bulgarian State Railways.

Prime Minister Boyko Borissov is acting far more wisely than he
did in his first term as head of government between 2009 and
2013, the CITUB leader said. Borissov has apparently learned how
 to run the country, and he is doing it in tough conditions,
coping with all the internal tensions in the government,
Dimitrov said.

He listed three crucial issues which need to be addressed in the
 coming months: the pension system reform, the need for a new
economic and industrial policy, and the income policy.

Even now, it is economically feasible to raise incomes, but this
 takes a political will, a set of legislative instruments, and
an understanding that income redistribution through taxes should
 be made fairer by introducing progressive taxation, Dimitrov
said. By accomplishing these things, the government can earn
higher marks, which are withheld for now, he added.