Podkrepa union wants the 7% tax on meal vouchers, planned by the ruling parties, to be a social security contribution instead. Union president Dimitar Manolov said this today after the unions met finance minister Galab Donev.
This report follows our earlier story on the start of Donev's talks with unions and employers on the draft 2027 budget.
The union's second proposal is about public sector pay. The planned 5% rise should cover the first six months of 2027, Podkrepa says. After that, it says, the government should check whether there is money for another rise in the second half of the year.
Manolov said that if the charge cannot be avoided, it is better as a social security contribution. That way less would go to the state social security fund, and the sum would count towards people's insurable income, which the union sees as a benefit. Manolov said the Finance Ministry seems to have accepted the idea, but he is not sure.
Donev will talk to employers' groups later today.
Manolov summed up the meeting like this: "For workers and employees, nothing, but from the heart."
He said he still believes the revenue figures in the budget framework are set too low. "Of course revenue in the macro framework is always set too low, a political habit that nobody in Bulgaria can break," Manolov said.
He said no finance minister reveals where his reserves are, so that he can later look like a hero. As an example, he pointed to the "terrible deficit", which now turns out to be different, and added that the politicians deserve no credit for that.