site.btaAdditional Funding, Change of Funding Model, Differentiation of VAT on Food to be Proposed by Vazrazhdane

Additional funding, a change in the funding model and differentiation of VAT on food will be proposed by Vazrazhdane, said the party leader Kostadin Kostadinov Thursday. Kostadinov announced that a working group including representatives of Vazrazhdane, branch organizations and producers will be set up to propose a package of legislative measures encouraging Bulgarian production. "Our measures will be aimed at Bulgarian producers who produce for the Bulgarian market", Kostadinov added.

In his words, due to the policies of the governments over the last 35 years, more than 80% of the food in Bulgaria is imported, which makes Bulgaria a dependent country unless policies are taken to encourage Bulgarian production.

"Bulgaria is one of the three countries in Europe that does not apply differentiated rates for food", he said, pointing out that Vazrazhdane will make a proposal for a differentiated value added tax when they start discussing tax laws, including the state budget.

"In the long term, they should think about restoring Bulgarian production, and first the food sovereignty of the state should be restored, which goes through the protection of Bulgarian production", Kostadinov said. In his words, the main problem is that EU legislation does not allow or impedes these types of policies, except for the countries that have negotiated them. "Bulgaria has not done this", he added.