“We are obliged to reach a broad public agreement on the priorities set in the economy because we have limited resources,” the Head of State thinks
The participants in the first discussion under the aegis of President Rosen Plevneliev titled “Dialogue with the Citizens” outlined problems related to encouraging the small and mid-sized enterprises, measures for stimulating the economy by increasing the export and how the political decisions impact the development of the market economy.
“We are obliged to reach a broad public agreement on the priorities set in the economy because we have limited resources. We cannot do everything and not everyone will be content,” the Head of State warned. He expressed concern about the delay of the key reforms, among which are the pension, education and administrative reforms.
“Today Bulgarians are lending a hand to the politicians, the civil society is active and we should not fail, because the people are eager to see change and more democracy,” President Plevneliev said. In his words, these processes are taking place in the countries from the entire region, which are facing the “problem of the incomplete transition period.” “We are not where we wanted to be and where democracy is recognized by the citizens, while our state is one of justice,” the Head of State emphasized. He added that a big part of the demands put forward by the protests staged in February have not been satisfied. Among them are also the promised measures for securing more independence of the energy regulator.
As for the amendments in the energy legislation, the President was adamant that if there are anti-constitutional texts, he will impose a veto. He further recalled that some months ago the agreements in the energy sector were made public for the first time.
However, the Head of State said he was a firm supporter of ensuring maximum transparency of the South Stream project and asked whether, for instance, a public procurement will be called for a bank which has failed to provide funds for implementing the project on Bulgarian territory.
The representatives of the non-government sector and citizens further commented the delay of the pension reform and the demographic crisis in the country. The citizens called on the institutions to provide more funds for education and for transparency of the incomes in the public sector.
The topics of the low the citizens’ incomes, as well as the opportunities the business environment has to invest more were also debated at the discussion.
Among the participants in the discussion was also president Zhelyo Zhelev (1990-1997), according to whom the problems our country is facing may be solved only by securing a broad political unification.