The day in 3 news: Pension and minimum wage unchanged; WCC and DB will try to form minority gov’t; Elon Musk to visit Bulgaria

The day in 3 news: Pension and minimum wage unchanged; WCC and DB will try to form minority gov’t; Elon Musk to visit Bulgaria

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Welfare spending proposals blocked

The Council for Social Cooperation, which unites the likes of trade unions as well the executive and legislative branches of power, has rejected the spending plans of several main parties. None of the proposals made by WCC, BSP or DPS to raise the minimum wage and social welfare payments and recalculate pensions were accepted, on account of their being poorly devised.

The adoption of these reforms requires extra spending from the budget which had not been planned previously. Such uncosted pre-election proposals are usually made to court popularity.

The government has decided not to submit a draft budget for 2023, but instead asked for an extension of this year's budget. For now, the minimum wage remains at 710 leva, and pensions are scheduled to increase by 12% from July 1.

WCC and DB pledge to try for minority cabinet

WCC and Democratic Bulgaria have declared that they have a mutual plan for a minority cabinet when they are handed the second mandate by President Radev. "We will be ready to work together for a government led by both parties. However, there must be a guarantee that the parliament can work around the will of the smaller parties (excluding GERB)," said former prime minister Kiril Petkov.

The two parties' initiative comes after it became increasingly clear that GERB has no chance of attracting enough support with the first mandate.

Any incoming government would have the vexed issues of Eurozone and Schengen in its in-tray. Other pressing tasks are to reduce bureaucracy, effect changes to the Constitution and adopt bills in order to claim EU funds from the national recovery and resilience plan.

Elon Musk plans visit to Bulgaria

Tourism Minister Ilin Dimitrov has invited the world's richest man, Elon Musk, to visit Bulgaria. The invitation was prompted by Musk's tweet accompanied by a photo of the Belogradchik fortress, located in Northwestern Bulgaria. The owner of twitter commented that the photo reminds him of a computer game.

Earlier today, a local restaurant posted on one of the social media platforms that Musk's team had made a provisional booking there for April.

Welfare spending proposals blocked

The Council for Social Cooperation, which unites the likes of trade unions as well the executive and legislative branches of power, has rejected the spending plans of several main parties. None of the proposals made by WCC, BSP or DPS to raise the minimum wage and social welfare payments and recalculate pensions were accepted, on account of their being poorly devised.

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