12.04.2021
BGN 6.7 BILLION ARE BEING INVESTED IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE REGIONS BY 2027
The draft budget of the Regional Development Program 2021-2027 is close to BGN 6.7 billion. It will be managed by the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works and will have three main priority axes. It is planned to support measures in 50 urban municipalities.
The first priority axis for integrated urban development has a draft budget of BGN 1.131 billion.
It provides support for the ten largest urban municipalities, as centers of growth. In order to achieve better results, the municipalities were grouped by regions for planning. And each cluster will have a total budget. The aim is thus to strengthen the region as a whole by promoting cooperation between stakeholders.
The second priority of the program is integrated territorial development of the planning regions of level 2. The budget is a little over BGN 2.5 billion. 40 urban municipalities will have access to it.
Both axes will fund infrastructure projects in the fields of health, education, social activities, culture, sports, tourism and cultural heritage, housing, energy efficiency and renovation of residential and public buildings, improving urban mobility, repairing road infrastructure and safety and development of functional connections. Measures for green urban infrastructure and security in public spaces, promotion of economic activity, etc. will also be supported.
The third priority of the program is "Fair Energy Transition".
It is programmed under the Fair Transition Fund, provided that the territorial plans developed for its implementation are approved as part of the RDP 2021 2027. The draft budget of the priority is BGN 3.1 billion. The main goal is to provide support for the regions and sectors most affected by the transition to climate neutrality. Currently, the measure is aimed at the districts of Stara Zagora, Kyustendil and Pernik, but negotiations are underway to include more districts. The priority axis will fund a wide range of activities.
For the first time in Bulgaria, the RDP 2021-2027 will be implemented through the implementation of instruments for integrated territorial development, specified by the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works. The program is designed to achieve balanced territorial development between the regions, depopulation of territories in the country and others.
12.04.2021
THE HIGHER SCHOOL OF INSURANCE AND FINANCE OPENS "ACADEMY FOR ENTREPRENEURS"
The Higher School of Insurance and Finance (VUZF) is launching a new project that will support and encourage young people who want to start their own business - "Academy for Entrepreneurs". The academy is completely free and anyone who can join it has a desire to develop his entrepreneurial potential.
During it, participants will undergo comprehensive training that will help them build their business. It will go through different modules, each of which will address the specific steps of creating and developing a startup, such as strategy building, brand development, creating an organizational culture, proper communication in the structure, attracting funding sources and potential investors, as well as the various opportunities for digital business development, marketing, sales, etc.
"Academy for Entrepreneurs" starts on April 28 and will be held online. Participants will meet with professors at VUZF and successful Bulgarian entrepreneurs who will be their mentors in the process of building their own business venture. Young entrepreneurs will work on specific ideas, which with the help of mentors, at the end of the academy should become a comprehensive concept for a viable business project.
At the end of the project, they will have to present their projects to an expert jury, which will evaluate their final projects. The winners will receive scholarships to study in the bachelor's and master's programs in entrepreneurship at VUZF.
The academy will last until the beginning of June, and once a week a specific thematic module will be held with many practical examples and assignments, on which future entrepreneurs will work.
Anyone wishing to join can do so free of charge by submitting their application by April 26, 2021. More information about the "Academy for Entrepreneurs" as well as enrollment can be found on the VUZF website.
09.04.2021
How women receive a higher pension
Women in Bulgaria will stay longer in the labor market and thus receive higher pensions. This is provided by the National Action Plan for the Promotion of Equality between Women and Men, developed to implement the National Strategy for the Promotion of Gender Equality for 2021-2030 and uploaded for public discussion.
It states that the longer participation of women in insurance is a measure that will reduce the difference in the size of pensions between the sexes.
The increase in the retirement age is reflected in the longer stay on the labor market and, accordingly, the longer participation in insurance, which is important for the amount of the received pension.
The required length of service for acquiring the right to a pension for both sexes continues to increase by 2 months each year, reaching 36 years and 2 months for women and 39 years and 2 months for men in 2022. Every year the age for pension for both sexes until equal in 2037.
The plan aims to implement a unified policy on equality between women and men through the included measures of various institutions and organizations.
They are structured in five priority areas:
Another measure mentioned in the Plan is the adopted amendments to the Social Security Code. According to them, when determining the amount of pension reduction by the National Social Security Institute, the transfer from the state budget in the amount of 12 percent on the sum of the insurance incomes of all insured persons for the period from 2009 to 2015 inclusive will be taken into account and the years of service with and without insurance in a private pension fund will be reported.
This will guarantee a higher amount of newly granted pensions for seniority and age of women born after December 31, 1959, the document reads.
09.04.2021
THE DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS UNDER MEASURE 60/40 EXPIRES ON 15 APRIL
The Employment Agency reminds employers who meet the conditions for receiving state aid that if they wish to receive funds for the period January - March 2021, they can submit an application and the required documents until 17.00 on April 15, 2021.
The specified term for acceptance of application documents is regulated in CMD № 93/ 18.03.2021, which extends the period for providing financial support under the measure until May 31, 2021.
To the employers already approved for the first quarter of this year under measure 60/40, the Agency reminds that the payment is made on the basis of a current list of employees for the previous month and a Letter - declaration for monthly reporting.
The deadline for submission of these documents is April 22, 2021, according to the Procedure approved by the Executive Director of the Employment Agency.
The Employment Agency draws attention to the fact that employers must comply with the set deadlines for application (April 15, 2021) and for monthly reporting (April 22, 2021), as the documents submitted after these dates are not subject to verification and evaluation by the commissions. in employment offices.
The documents can be submitted electronically through the Secure Electronic Service System (SES), signed with a qualified electronic signature (QES) or through a licensed postal operator, and if it is impossible to use these two methods - by visiting the labor office.
Regardless of the method of sending, the documents are submitted to the Directorate "Labor Office", serving the territory of the place of work of employees or in the labor office, where the employer is approved.
The updated with Order № RD-11-00-674 Procedure for application of employers under the Council of Ministers 151/2020 and other detailed information for application and monthly reporting of employers is published on the website of the Employment Agency, in the section "Financial incentives for maintaining employment”/CMD № 151/2020 amended with CMD № 416/2020.
09.04.2021
Trade with Serbia fell by only 9% last year
Bulgaria has a new ambassador to Serbia - Petko Doynov. He has already presented his credentials to Serbian President Alexander Vucic, who emphasized Serbia's desire to develop relations with Bulgaria in a spirit of friendship and mutual understanding.
Serbia is not only a neighbor, but also an important partner of our country. It is located at the crossroads of two main pan-European transport corridors - № 7 and № 10, through which Bulgaria connects with the Old Continent. European transport corridor 10 (Salzburg-Ljubljana-Zagreb-Belgrade-Nis-Skopje-Thessaloniki) passes through Serbia and its diversions Budapest-Novi Sad-Belgrade and Nis-Sofia-Istanbul. Another important transport artery that crosses Corridor 10 in Belgrade is the Pan-European Transport Corridor 7 Rhine-Main-Danube.
Great importance is also attached to the construction of Corridor 11 (towards Montenegro). All this is a favorable factor for the development of international economic cooperation in the Balkans. European integration and the accession of our western neighbor to the EU is one of the main priorities of the Serbian government. In March 2012, Serbia received official candidate status, and in December 2015, the country was invited to enter into formal negotiations with the EU.
All this is a prerequisite for active bilateral cooperation. Currently, trade relations between Bulgaria and Serbia are regulated by the Stabilization and Association Agreement between the EU and the Republic of Serbia, signed in 2013.
The analysis shows that the export list of Bulgarian goods is dominated by raw materials, materials and goods with a low degree of processing. Leading places are occupied by petroleum oils and oils from bituminous minerals, electricity. In recent years, there has been an increase in the share of exports of products and products of the chemical, pharmaceutical and mechanical engineering industries. In imports, the leading positions are occupied mainly by raw materials, metals and petroleum products.
Since 2017, bilateral trade has crossed the 1 billion-euro mark and continues to grow. In 2019, trade reached 1.21 billion euros, but with a negative trade balance for Bulgaria. The pandemic 2020 brought very little change - goods were exchanged for 1.11 billion euros.
Regarding the participation in the privatization and the realized investments in Serbia, Bulgaria occupies leading positions in the number of its companies. There are more than fifty companies with Bulgarian or mixed capital and more than 20 representative offices. Some of the larger Bulgarian companies are represented on the Serbian market: Prista Oil, Rubella, My Gas, Office 1, Golden Rose, Technomarket, Intertrust Holding and others, noted by our Ministry of Economy.
Between 2006 and 2019, Serbian investments worth 241.3m euros entered Bulgaria. In the first nine months of last year, Serbian companies invested 14.1m euros in Bulgaria, but in 2020 a total of 72,039 Serbian businessmen traveled to Bulgaria for business purposes, which shows that there is interest in cooperation.
Tourism is among the most dynamically developing industries in bilateral trade and economic relations. More than 400,000 Serbs have visited Bulgaria as tourists in recent years - in both summer and winter resorts. In 2019, a total of 514,959 Bulgarians visited neighboring Serbia. In 2020, things are a little different - 125,758 guests from neighboring Serbia were here for a holiday and excursion.
The main infrastructure projects between Bulgaria and Serbia are the construction of Corridor 10, which is already ready on the Serbian side and we have to build our part between Kalotina and Sofia, and the construction of the gas interconnector.
The largest Serbian investment in Bulgaria is that of NIS Petrol EOOD, which is owned by Oil Industry Serbia (NIS), one of the largest oil companies in Southeast Europe, amounting to 75m euros. It includes 35 gas stations and a warehouse in the town of Kostinbrod.
Development opportunities
of the economic relations between Bulgaria and Serbia also exist in the cross-border cooperation and the formation of Bulgarian-Serbian business clusters in the border regions; participation of Bulgarian entrepreneurs in infrastructure projects on the territory of Serbia (Trace Group has such), financed by European funds; cooperation in the field of tourism by offering common tourism packages to third countries; joint activity to enter third markets. There are prospects for cooperation in the IT sector, where joint projects are possible in order to enter international markets with a common product and outsourcing projects.
09.04.2021
THE QUARANTINE PATIENT WILL BE EXCLUDED FROM THE GENERAL LIMIT
Quarantine due to Covid-19 and other diseases will no longer be included in the limit for days on sick leave. This is provided by changes in the Ordinance on medical expertise, proposed by the Ministry of Health.
The texts are published on the public consultation portal strategy.bg. The deadline for their discussion is May 5.
Currently, the sick leave, which is issued for quarantine, is within the total limit of 180 days per year. This makes it difficult for people who are or have been in long-term hospitalization due to other illnesses, forcing them to appear before a medical commission and the territorial expert medical commissions (TEMC).
With a change in the transitional and final provisions of the ordinance, the texts of the Regulations for the structure and organization of work of the bodies of the medical expertise and of the regional files of the medical expertises are amended. The new text stipulates that hospital quarantines may be issued by GPs even in cases where patients have used long-term sick leave due to another illness, excluding quarantine from the general hospital limit. Such an exception is currently provided only for the 135 days of sick leave, incl. The 45 days before birth, which are issued for the birth and upbringing of a child.
Limits for days on sick leave
The ordinance on medical expertise stipulates that GPs may single-handedly issue sick leaves for up to 40 days within a calendar year.
For a longer hospital stay - up to 180 days for one calendar year and 360 days used in two years, patients appear before medical advisory commissions, and for over 180 days - before the territorial expert medical commissions (TEMC).
At the same time, the ordinance stipulates that the hospital for quarantine for Covid or another contagious disease must be issued by the personal doctor alone.
Due to the regulations, problems arise for people who have exhausted their sick leave limit due to another illness or disability. In practice, these people are forced to violate the prescriptions of the health authorities in order to appear before the expert commissions, and the purpose of the quarantine is to prevent the spread of the contagious disease, the Ministry of Health said in the reasons for the changes.
08.04.2021
We give the employer the medical in a sealed envelope
Upon entering the job, the employee provides in a sealed envelope to the employer a completed card for preliminary medical examination and copies of expert decisions of the Territorial Expert Medical Commission (TEMC) or the National Medical Expert Commission (NEMC), when such documents are available.
The employer submits the documents to the occupational medicine service servicing the storage facility.
This envisages a draft Ordinance on the conditions for carrying out the obligatory preliminary and periodic medical examinations of employees, uploaded for public discussion.
It also states that the following are subject to mandatory preliminary medical examination:
The draft ordinance provides for the possibility for the doctor performing the obligatory examination in case of suspicion of an occupational disease to refer the employee for specialized examinations and consultations, both to a medical institution for hospital care, which has a structure for occupational diseases, and to any other medical institution in the country with possibilities for diagnostic clarification, which will facilitate and expand the access of employees to qualified medical care, reads the reasons for the ordinance.
The draft ordinance sets out the requirements for initial and periodic medical examinations of employees over 18 years of age. The requirements for entering the results of the performed obligatory preliminary and periodic inspections in the respective map model, introduced by the ordinance, remain unchanged compared to those that are valid so far.
It regulates the obligation of the employer to ensure the conduct of periodic medical surveillance of employees, as well as ensuring the timely appearance of persons subject to periodic medical surveillance.
The requirement aims to ensure the timely and regular conduct of the required examinations of all employees.
The project regulates a list of harmful factors for health and safety, which require mandatory preliminary and periodic medical examinations of employees, doctors who perform them and the frequency of mandatory periodic examinations, which determine the specific requirements. to the obligatory examinations and examinations, as well as the periodicity for their carrying out in relation to the various harmful factors for the health.
It is proposed to introduce a list of relative medical contraindications for entering a profession (position, production activity) with harmful factors for health and safety, which has been updated in accordance with modern conditions and achievements of medical science.
Contraindications that have been identified as restrictive for employment have been dropped from the current list, given the current available opportunities for therapeutic response and compensation of disease symptoms to achieve physiological norms, as well as the potential impact of the work environment and work process and occupational and work-related diseases.
Based on the results of the performed obligatory medical examinations, a conclusion is provided for the suitability of the person to perform a certain profession (position, production activity) to be prepared by the occupational medicine service.
In the presence of a disease, it is planned to assess the type of the disease, the stage of its development, the conditioned functional deficit and the possibility of progression under the specific working conditions.
The draft ordinance provides for occupational health services to assist employers in fulfilling their obligations under the ordinance, including recommending additional medical examinations and/or examinations at intervals other than those specified in the ordinance, in increasing the exposure to harmful factors above the normatively established limit values and updated risk assessment.
07.04.2021
DRAFT NATIONAL STRATEGY OF THE REPUBLIC OF BULGARIA FOR EQUALITY, INCLUSION AND PARTICIPATION OF ROMA 2021-2030
Pursuant to Order R-32 of 5.03.2021 of the Deputy Chairman and Chairman of the National Council for Cooperation on Ethnic and Integration Issues Tomislav Donchev, an Interdepartmental Expert Working Group with the participation of representatives of institutions and civil society organizations prepared a draft National Strategy of the Republic of Bulgaria for equality, inclusion and participation of the Roma 2021-2030. The working group was based on a version of the strategy with notes from the public consultations as of January 31, 2021.
You can send your opinions on the National Strategy until 12.4.2021 HERE
07.04.2021
EC WITH SUPPORT FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF STARTUPS
24 EU countries and Iceland signed a Declaration on a Common European Standard for Startup Nations a few days ago. It will require Member States to apply practices that encourage entrepreneurship and create a more favorable environment for start-ups.
Measures include the introduction of a startup visa, simplified company registration procedures and quick access to the local market, fully electronic communication between companies and administration, fast visa procedures for talent and entrepreneurs from outside the EU, incentives for experts to return in Europe, access to venture and equity capital, equal access to entrepreneurship, etc.
Bulgaria is not among the participants in the initiative. However, some of the practices have already been introduced. Access to capital in our country is supported by 14 venture and equity funds, which invest in companies from different sectors and at different stages of development of an enterprise. A startup visa has been introduced since mid-February, and at the local level the Sofia Municipality is the first to launch its Sandbox for Innovative Solutions program. In it, pilot projects of the capital's business are tested for applicability in a real urban environment.
So far, only Bulgaria, Hungary and Croatia have not signed the declaration.
With the introduction of the Common European Standard for Startup Nations, the EC aims to realize Europe's potential to become the most attractive place to create startups compared to global leaders such as the United States.
"The role that startups can play in the recovery process from the current crisis and in stimulating green and digital transformation cannot be underestimated: they have a proven potential to innovate in response to real-world problems, to create new jobs. and strong synergies with European industry", the text of the document states.
The founders of startups face a number of challenges to the development of their projects. The covid crisis has exacerbated some of these problems, most notably securing the necessary funding: in more than 20 EU countries, including Bulgaria, start-up funds fell sharply in 2020 from a year earlier. This creates a real danger for young innovators to leave the EU and look for places with a more favorable environment, the document notes.
In Bulgaria in 2020, the collapse in startup investments on an annual basis is 5 times - from 149 million euros in 2019 to 35.5 million euros a year later.
06.04.2021
WHAT KIND OF WORKERS ARE IN DEMAND IN OUR COUNTRY AT THE MOMENT
In March 2020, the so-called first lockdown hit the labor market in Bulgaria and job advertisements dropped dramatically. Employers reacted much more flexibly and confidently to the lockdown in March 2021 and the next "closing" not only did not lead to a decrease in job postings, but also an increase - by 10% compared to February 2021 and by as much as 117% compared to March 2020, shows a study of a job search platform.
A positive trend is observed in all sectors. Since the beginning of the year, there has been a constant positive trend in the number of ads published on the leading job sites in Bulgaria.
The sectors with the highest growth were Construction (22%), Accounting, Auditing, Finance (17%) and Administrative activities (16%), followed by Manufacturing (15%), Logistics and transport (14%) and IT (12%).
The Hotel and Restaurant sector, which grew significantly in the previous month (139%), remained almost unchanged in March, with an increase in the number of ads in it by only 0.4%, according to the analysis.
The share distribution of announcements by sectors remains the same as in the previous month of February, with the largest share remaining in the sectors "Trade and sales" (21%), "Production" (16%) and IT (14%).
The trend is positive in all leading regional cities. The growth of job advertisements in them is as follows: Sofia 9%, Plovdiv 4%, Varna 10%, Burgas 17%, Ruse 6% and Stara Zagora 16%. The total number of ads in these cities is equal to 71% of job offers across the country.
Apart from the continuing trend of rising job advertisements throughout the first quarter, the good news is that lockdowns no longer have such a significant impact on the labor market in our country.
The data from the past month are an illustration of greater confidence and less unpredictability on the part of employers, which we hope will gradually lead to the stabilization of the country's economy.
