The leader of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), Sergey Stanishev, has warned the government about potential protests if it does not initiate measured against impoverishment of the people. Photo by BGNES
The Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) has warned about potential protests if the government does not take measures against the impoverishment of the Bulgarians until the end of February.
The BSP leader and former Prime Minister, Sergey Stanishev, said Tuesday that Bulgaria is entering an inflationary spiral.
Due to the continuing increase of prices of basic goods and services, BSP demanded an increase of the minimum monthly wage to BGN 300, starting from next month.
In Stanishev's words, the measure would cost about BGN 14 M until the end of the year, which would be bearable for the state budget.
The socialists have also insisted that the child allowances should go up by at least BGN 10, since they are "frozen" for a third consecutive year at BGN 35.
Other demands of BSP include increasing of the retirement pension, according to the inflation accumulated since the beginning of the ruling of Bulgaria's GERB party, and granting of one-time compensations of BGN 50 to all recipients of energy aid.
"We give the government a deadline until the end of February to initiate these measures, including changes in the state budget. Otherwise, there will be social protests and BSP will take part in their organization," Stanishev said.
He added that according to BSP, the government is reacting to the actual impoverishment only when it is under pressure.
Stanishev said that there will probably be regional, as well as national, protests.
Meanwhile, the leader of the rightist Union of Democratic Forces (UDF) party, Martin Dimitrov, said that taking down the cabinet at this moment would be stupid and would put the power in the hands of the Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov.
"We will not be part of this process," Dimitrov said.
However, he stated that there is a possibility for early elections after the presidential elections in the fall because, in his words, people do not live well.
The UDF leader added that the social discontent would be felt more seriously by the end of the year.