DECLARATION OF BULGARIAN EMPLOYERS' ORGANIZATIONS

regarding a proposal to increase the contribution to state social insurance /LLC/

Association of Industrial Capital in Bulgaria, Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce - Union of Bulgarian Business, Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Bulgarian Union of Private Entrepreneurs "Vazrazhdane", Confederation of Employers and Industrialists in Bulgaria - Voice of Bulgarian Business and Union for Business Initiative as representatives of Bulgarian business and as social partners, officially recognized by the Bulgarian government, express categorical disagreement with the proposal to increase the contribution for state social insurance /DOO/ by three percentage points. Such an increase would have a pro-cyclical nature with severe consequences for the level of unemployment and the gray economy in Bulgaria for the next few years and would delay the country's exit from the crisis.

This proposal is made under unprecedented street pressure, accompanied by pressure from lobbying unions to preserve the channels for draining the budget of the National Health Insurance Fund /NHOK/.

If this becomes a fact, all Bulgarian citizens will become donors of another infusion of financial resources into an unreformed system such as the health care system, and at a time when Bulgaria is already drawing plans for a successful future. The investment programs of Bulgarian and foreign investors will be disrupted, which will lead to an outflow of investments for more than 2,5 billion euros, and hence high unemployment and low incomes.

We, the representatives of the Bulgarian employers, call on the government of the Republic of Bulgaria and personally the Prime Minister, Mr. Boyko Borisov, not to give in to threats of street pressure from interested entities, but to take into account the position of the Bulgarian business, which creates added value and ensures the growth of the economy of the Republic of Bulgaria.