Bulgarian Pensioners Shout On Deaf Politician Ears

Hitting their heads against a brick wall is the verdict I think on this protest! That aside, it just shows that the government view the minimum wage as the level on which a basic standard of living is calculated. This means of course that pensioners are living at around 50% less than a basic standard of living! This means nothing to politicians who will be getting private pensions that are up and away on another level of living. A politician who cares about pensioners in Bulgaria is a rare sight indeed.

About 50 pensioners rallied in protest against poverty in front of the Council of Ministers building in Sofia on Tuesday.
The retirees especially protested against the meager Christmas bonuses of only BGN 25 that only those of them with monthly pensions of under BGN 200 will get in January 2010.
“We are fed up with the poverty, we want European pensions,” the banners of the pensioners read.
The protesters were mostly representatives of pensioners’ organizations expressing their discontent with the social policies of the government of Boyko Borisov. They demand that the minimum monthly retirement pension in Bulgaria, which is BGN 136, be made equal to the minimum monthly wage of BGN 240.
Another one of the protesters’ grievances included the increase of the price of monthly tickets for the public transport in Sofia from BGN 6 to BGN 8.
Meanwhile, Labor Minister Totyu Mladenov declared the Cabinet was doing everything possible in order to improve the social situation in the country. In his words, 11,3% of the GDP will be allocated for retirement pensions in 2010. A total of 43% of the total 2010 state spending will go for pensions and social security benefits.

Source: http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=11145