site.btaCulture Minister Comments on Musicians' Pensions

Culture Minister Marian Bachev commented on musicians' pensions on Nova Television on Saturday. The topic was brought to public attention after during a show on Nova Television it was reported that singer Mimi Nikolova receives a pension of BGN 307. Bachev described this as "extremely unfair".

He underlined that "it is not the prerogative of the Culture Ministry to help the artists, but of the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy."

"The truth is, however, that my predecessors have appreciated the talent and the importance that Mimi Nikolova has given to Bulgarian culture and, in particular, to music. In 2020 she  received a Golden Century award with the corresponding monetary value," Bachev said.

"A year later, for a period of three years, it was voted in the National Assembly that all performers who are associated with the Golden Orpheus [an international vocal competition and song contest, held annually from 1965 to 1999 in Sunny Beach, Bulgaria] receive a monthly award, not a pension, of BGN 500. When this 3-year period expired, more than 130 people received a lifetime pension-award from the Culture Ministry, voted through the National Assembly, which Mimi Nikolova also received," Bachev explained.

"In order to get these life pensions, they should be proposed by an initiative committee, by artists' unions or similar organisations that come to us, we vote them in the Council of Ministers, then in the National Assembly, this is the procedure," the Culture Minister said.

The Ministry will continue to take similar initiatives to support Bulgarian artists, Bachev added.