site.btaFirst Plan of Early Childhood Development to Be Announced in Few Days, Says Social Policy Minister Shalapatova

In a few days three ministers will announce the first plan of early childhood development, Minister of Labor and Social Policy Ivanka Shalapatova told NOVA TV here on Wednesday. When it comes to income, any government must have at least ten years of consecutive policies before it can be proud of its accomplishments. Government policies should invest in people's quality of life, the Minister said, emphasizing investments through capital projects and municipal programmes. "A large part of these investments will be in social infrastructure, kindergartens and nurseries," Shalapatova said. She explained that the time it will take for these policies to have an effect is at least three to five years.

"The pension analysis will start very soon, so we can see what mistakes were made through politically hasty decisions over the years," the Minister noted. She also said that the regional employment programmes will start with an increased investment of BGN 15 million, which adds up to BGN 88 million of labour market policy investments.

Commenting on whether talks are being held with ministers about who will remain in office after the upcoming Government rotation next month, she said the discussions at the Council of Ministers are about what can be done from now on and how the ministers can work together as they have done until now. All policies have been integrated, she added.

The Minister pointed out, that every three months she gives a very analytical report to both the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister. "And I do that regardless of the rotation because that's the way I work and I make sure there are always concrete results from my work. That way the decision will be made based on facts," Shalapatova said.