site.btaGovernment Reports First 100 Days in Office

Government Reports First 100 Days in Office

Sofia, February 13 (BTA) - Deputy Prime Ministers and other
members of the government of Boyko Borissov reported their
performance in their first 100 days in office on Friday.

Deputy Prime Minister in charge of coalition policy and the
state administration, Roumyana Buchvarova, assessed in positive
terms the government's work so far. "The government is doing
well with its operational tasks and the general government
tasks. We shouldn't forget the calming of the political
atmosphere and the spirit of constructivism in addressing them.
Predictability and calm provide a good groundwork for a stable
government and clarity of developmental vision."

She said that a wide front of reforms have started: in the
judiciary, in the Interior Ministry, health care, education, the
energy sector, the retirement system. The purpose of all is to
improve the welfare of people, Buchvarova added.

She dismissed as ill-founded the accusations of a purge in the
state administration. "Figures show that new appointments in the
government bodies are 77 per cent and in the politicsl cabinets
85 per cent, which means that 15 per cent of the personnel has
remained the same."

The Deputy Prime Minister in charge of coordinating the European
policies and institutional matters, Meglena Kuneva, said her
personal ambition is to continue working to achieve several
specific goals of priority: secure entry for Bulgaria in the
Schengen area, good preparation and successful Bulgarian
Presidency of the EU in 2018 and accomplishing significant
results in the counter-corruption combat.

Kuneva said the first 100 days were a good start. "We've
achieved quite a lot: Bulgaria proved to be a constructive and
loyal partner of the EU and NATO and a proof of that were
several key visits within a month," she said. Another
accomplishment she mentioned was the adoption of the government
programme and providing a groundwork for reforming the judiciary
by supporting a strategy update.

She said that in her capacity as leader of a party from the
Reformist Bloc, she believes their participation in the
government is good for Bulgaria. She called the Bloc "a
guarantor of the irreversibility and scale of reforms".

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Labour and Social Policy,
Ivaylo Kalfin, said he "has largely reached an accord" with his
colleagues in the government.

He noted that the funding for social policies this year was
increased by 200 million leva, that the first two EU-funded
programmes that were approved for Bulgaria this year are in the
social sector and these will provide 2.5 billion leva for social
activity in the coming years.

Kalfin noted "serious discussions and resistance in the area of
incomes policy" and said that the changes in the retirement
system are making progress "in an atmosphere of transparency and
dialogue with the social partners and the parties in
Parliament".

Commenting the government's performance in the corridors of
Parliament, Reformist Bloc co-leader Radan Kanev said that "the
direction is right but the pace is slow". He specified that it
was his personal assessment, not his group's.