Minimum wage

EU ministers on Dec. 6 agreed on measures to better protect wage levels in Europe and give workers more power to oppose low pay.

While the proposal does not set an EU-wide minimum wage, once confirmed it would mark a significant step in promoting the European social model, especially in eastern European countries where salaries are low.

Labor and Social Security Minister Vedat Bilgin gestures during a meeting with labor and trade union representatives in Ankara on Dec. 1.

A commission of officials and representatives of labor and trade unions convened to initiate negotiations on the minimum wage for next year.

We propose to introduce in the next budget an increase in the minimum wage and it will become BGN 710, said today in the Council of Ministers the Minister of Finance Valeri Belchev.

Over 750 thousand people in our country work on the minimum wage. They now receive BGN 650, which, according to Belchev, are extremely insufficient to support a household.

Further support to households in case of further increase in energy prices was announced by the Minister of Finance, Christos Staikouras.

"If prices remain high or prices rise further, the government may be forced - and rightly so, to intervene even more this year," Staikouras said.

Ljubljana – The opposition Social Democrats (SD) set out their election manifesto on Saturday with the promise of a new beginning and major changes over the next decade, including higher pay and shorter work week. In her address to the party conference, SD leader Tanja Fajon described the programme as a development-oriented vision.

С The leapin prices in Bulgaria is already noticeable with a naked eye, and the Confedertion of Independent Trsde Uniond in Bulgaria (CIYUB) predicts that the increase in electricity costs will exceed the the parameters of the socially bearable price. This is expected to affect the businesses as well as all other products.

The Minister of Immigration and Asylum, Notis Mitarakis, analyzed the new measures announced yesterday at the Thessaloniki International Fair by Kyriakos Mitsotakis, for MEGA television.

As he stressed, the government has given priority to young people, the vulnerable and households.

The nationwide minimum salary must increase, Prime Minister Florin Citu said at the end of the Tripartite Council meeting, stating that in discussions with trade unions and employers it was decided to agree on a calculation formula by the end of October. "The nationwide minimum salary must increase!