site.btaLabour Minister Says EU Aid Should Be Used to Develop Remote Areas

Labour Minister Says EU Aid Should Be Used to Develop Remote Areas


Sofia, October 6 (BTA) - Labour and Social Policy Minister
Yordan Hristoskov said on Monday that EU aid should be allocated
in a way that will help develop the infrastructure in remote
areas, including border regions. By upgrading the transport,
communication and social infrastructure in remote areas, it will
be possible to keep their residents from emigrating, reduce
public spending on welfare initiatives and encourage those areas
to develop on their own, Hristoskov said.

The Minister was speaking at an international conference on
"Economic Growth: Drivers and Barriers," hosted by the Economic
Research Institute with the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.

He said that an advisory board is considering various options to
streamline the social security system. The idea is to boost
revenues and reduce expenses, curb welfare fraud and raise
social security payments and pensions to match EU standards.

Hristoskov noted that government policies since 2003 have caused
a decrease in social security revenues by reducing social
security contributions and penal sanctions, on the one hand, and
an increase in social security expenses by expanding the
category of people entitled to early retirement and increasing
maternity benefit periods, on the other hand. Things have come
to a point where 50 per cent of social security expenses are
financed with tax money, he said. This implies that retired
people, mothers and jobless persons have to pay taxes in order
to get welfare benefits, he added.

In other countries, VAT rates on medicines, school books and
aids and staple foods are lower than the general VAT rate,
Hristoskov said.

The advisory board will submit its proposals to the government
in the week after next. The proposals will then be referred to
the next Labour and Social Policy Minister, Hristoskov said.