Finance Minister Assen Vassilev addresses a forum titled Strengthening Transparency and Governance through Collective Action in Sofia, Bulgaria on Oct. 10, 2023 (BTA photo)
SOFIA, Bulgaria – Bulgaria has resources available to provide aid to Israel, Finance Minister Assen Vassilev said here Tuesday.
"Resources for aid are available both in the central government budget and in the Foreign Ministry budget. Now the competent ministries have to contact Israel to find out what exactly they could use," the Minister told the press on the sidelines of a forum on transparency and government.
Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov said Monday that Bulgaria will offer humanitarian aid to Israel after the Hamas attacks.
Vassilev said: "Bulgaria declared clearly its support for Israel in this terrible situation. Its citizens have been attacked; civilians have been kidnapped; civilians have been killed."
He believes it is too early to assess the effect of the conflict and said that it would depend on the reactions of Saudi Arabia, Iran and the international oil markets.
"We are monitoring the situation," he said.
Asked whether his Ministry would reinstate the BGN 0.25/l fuel rebate for motorists if the conflict deepens and oil product markets are affected, Vassilev said we would rather have other measures considered.
He noted that similar fuel rebate schemes, which worked in a number of European countries, have been suspended by the EC.
"The only way this measure could be resumed is if it applies to all cars, including non-Bulgarian transiting ones but that would make it economically unjustifiable as it would not help Bulgarian consumers," the Minister explained.
Vassilev said again that next year's budget is planned with a 3 percent deficit.
"We will comply with the Maastricht criteria. For the moment we have no worries about that," he said.
He pointed out that the budget deficit at the end of September was 0.4 percent and should reach 3 percent by the end of the year.
"We are moving quite in line with the estimates, even a little better than the internal monthly estimates," he said.
Bulgaria needs to have its budget deficit at 3 percent at the most if it wants to join the eurozone at the beginning of 2025 as planned.
Vassilev added that all planned changes to tax laws have now been published for public consultation.
"We have about two more weeks until the public consultation is over, after which we will decide with our colleagues from the Council of Ministers which changes will be submitted to Parliament and what not," Vassilev said.
Asked about the protests of energy workers and coal miners against the territorial just transition plans, Vassilev said that the government is determined not to grant their demands to withdraw the plans "because it means that Bulgaria will lose BGN 1.6 billion which will be made available for a smooth transition away from coal in these [coal] regions".
"I also want to urge the coal miners to respect the law. Everyone has a right to protest but protesting by blocking roads violates the law and is prosecuted under the Criminal Procedure Code," Vassilev said.
Vassilev dismissed as a lie allegations by ranking GERB representatives, including MP Delyan Dobrov that the "published criteria for the Recovery and Resilience Plan are discriminatory and cater to certain funds" close to Continue the Change party.
He said that Dobrev mixed up the Recovery Plan programs and also that the criteria have only been put up for public consultation. (BTA)
