PM meets protesting miners
Protests by employees at coal plants have now reached the fifth day and key roadways are still blocked. Today, however, a meeting between the protesters and Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov, as well as representatives of GERB, WCC - DB and Movement for Rights and Freedoms, is being held.
According to Dnevnik sources, the meeting, which began this morning and has not yet ended, has led to an agreed document. So far, the exact form of the document is unclear, and also whether an actual agreement between the two parties has been reached.
BSP, which did not send any representatives to the meeting, said: "The organizers' goal is not to solve people's problems, but to imitate conversations, reduce tension and crush the protest."
September's budget deficit reaches BGN 780 million
Government finances went into a significant deficit in September. According to preliminary data from the MoF, the consolidated budget has a deficit of BGN 780 million or 0.4% of the estimated GDP. A month ago it was close to balanced.
In the remaining three months, the budget balance is expected to reach the planned deficit of 2.5% of GDP or BGN 4.6 billion. This means two things - the state will be forced to enter debt markets, and the numerical criterion of a deficit below 3% of GDP for the euro (at least for now) will be met. But it also means that in three months the state will have spent almost BGN 4 billion more than it has collected.
More EU money for farmers' associations
Producer associations in the fruit, vegetable, milk and other milk products sectors will now be able to access European funding for investments in a wide array of areas - from tangible and intangible assets, to science and development, marketing and climate-related measures.
This will be done by drawing up operational programs with a maximum budget of 2.3 million euros in the fruit and vegetable sector and up to 500 thousand euros in the dairy sector.
The new opportunity aims to strengthen the market positions of farmers and will be valid until 2027 as part of the Strategic Plan for Agricultural Development.
