site.btaGERB-UDF Deputy Floor Leader Sacheva: Tripartite Cooperation Council Will Meet Next Week

“Next week a new National Tripartite Cooperation Council meeting will be scheduled, where all budget parameters will likely be discussed,” GERB-UDF deputy floor leader Denitsa Sacheva told reporters on Sunday.

“The employers understand the situation we are in, and I believe they will show the necessary cooperation, given the fact that we are facing a very complex situation with only one possible budget,” she said.

“In this budget, we are actually implementing the laws as they have been passed over the past four years regarding salaries, which are one of the main points of dispute currently,” Sacheva added.

When asked whether the government is ready to reconsider the increase of the social security contribution and the dividend tax, Sacheva responded that there is no way to reconsider this, given that all these revenues are needed. She said that they are implementing the effective legislation regarding the minimum wage, which is linked to a number of social payments.

“If there are more reasonable proposals on how to raise revenue, we are ready to discuss them, but so far we have not heard any, apart from criticism of the budget,” Sacheva added.

A meeting of the National Tripartite Cooperation Council is scheduled for November 13, said Stanislav Popdonchev, Deputy Chair of the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce, in an interview with Bulgarian National Radio on Friday.

Employer organizations boycotted last week’s meeting of the National Tripartite Cooperation Council and opposed the parameters outlined in the state budget draft.