Bulgaria's Minister of Labor and Social Works, Totyu Mladenov, has announced that the minimum wage in the country will not be frozen for the next four years.

Mladenov stated that the minimum wage, currently BGN 240, must be increased to take people off the threshold of poverty. He added that "we have to do everything possible to help people with lower wages," in an interview for bTV.

Bulgarian trade unions confirmed that wages would only be frozen for a year and not the originally planned four years, after holding meetings with Ministers on Tuesday.

Mladenov continued that unemployment benefit will also not be cut as was recently reported in some local media. He also emphasized on the new program for social kitchens to help poor pensioners stating that the previous government's holidays for pensioners program was "utter rubbish".

Regarding the macro framework of the 2010-2013 budget, Mladenov said that it will be open and will vary depending on the economic situation in Bulgaria.

Mladenov concluded by stating that all the results of the current investigation into the spending of the previous government will be given to the Prosecutor's office and that it will become clear how former PM Sergey Stanishev and his cabinet managed to "waste the budget surplus and turn it into a budget deficit."