site.btaPensioners' Unions Oppose Liberalization of Energy Market, Accelerated Euro Changeover

A declaration against the liberalization of the energy market, the abolition of the night tariff for electricity consumption and the accelerated introduction of the euro in Bulgaria was drafted by the pensioners' unions, their spokesperson Velizar Enchev told a press conference at the BTA National Press Club on Monday.

He explained that at the end of 2023 the National Assembly adopted amendments to the Energy Act, which provide for all domestic consumers to enter the energy free market in 2026, and from July 1 this year the National Electricity Company to cease to be a public electricity supplier.

Almost half of Bulgarian pensioners will be subjected to energy "genocide" if the energy market in Bulgaria is liberalized on July 1, 2024, Enchev said. He also said that if the planned abolition of the night-time electricity tariff becomes reality, around one million pensioners would "go back to the 19th century" and "switch to candlelight". He pointed out that unions also oppose the philosophy of the so-called Green Deal.

The poorest and the sickest country in the European Union (EU) does not have the financial, economic, or social resources to afford abandoning the lev and adopting the euro in 2025, Enchev said, adding that Bulgaria could join the eurozone when incomes here are at least equal to wages and pensions in Central and Eastern Europe.

Pensioners are the last in economic opportunities in Europe, but at the same time the first in passivity, said Stefan Gruev, chairman of the "Union of Pensioners 2004". In his words, Bulgarian pensioners do not use the potential they have in terms of quantity and quality, because among them there are people who have ruled the country until recently.

According to Petar Petrov of the New Union of Pensioners, about 60% of the entire pensioner population is subjected to "genocide" because of the pensions they receive.

The union called on Bulgarian pensioners to support their protest against the premature introduction of the euro.