site.btaHousing Policy Will Play Important Role in Socialist Election Programme - BSP Leader

Housing policy will play a particularly important place in the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) election programme, leader Krum Zarkov said during a meeting with the leadership of the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria (CITUB) on Wednesday. The talks were initiated by the trade union in connection with the snap parliamentary elections on April 19.

According to Zarkov, the BSP will propose the development of an investment programme with a budget of EUR 1 billion to build municipal housing stock in major cities, with priority housing conditions for young families. The party also plans to support families with children purchasing their own homes by providing EUR 5,000 from the purchase price or toward the required down payment on a mortgage loan. There would be conditions preventing the property from being resold within a certain period, Zarkov explained.

The party will also propose assistance to cover housing rent costs for families with children who do not own a home, under certain conditions – EUR 100 per month for a family with one child and EUR 250 for families with two or more children, he added.

The Socialists also plan to include in their programme an increase in the one-time child birth allowance, as well as linking the maternity benefit during the second year to the minimum wage. They also propose a state scholarship for student mothers enrolled in full-time education who have children up to six years old. Other proposals include increasing tax relief for children and raising the minimum and maximum daily unemployment benefits.

“We need to enter into a reasonable and rational debate on introducing progressive income taxation for individuals with a corresponding tax-free minimum, while maintaining the current tax rate for workers,” Zarkov said. The party also plans to increase the dividend tax and raise gambling fees.

The BSP supports the trade unions’ demand for a 5% wage increase in sectors financed through subsidies, with Zarkov noting that the parliamentary group will submit such a proposal between the first and second readings of the so-called extension budget.

“We also support the constitutional guarantee of the right to protest and strike,” Zarkov said. The party has proposals to encourage and strengthen collective bargaining agreements. Initially, BSP plans to introduce an obligation to negotiate those agreements in all large enterprises, and later also in medium-sized companies.

The party is considering a limit on hiring of low-skilled workers from third countries in large and medium enterprises where no collective bargaining agreement exists, in order to curb social dumping, the BSP leader added.