12.01.2023
THE FUND OF FUNDS WILL MANAGE A PUBLIC RESOURCE IN THE AMOUNT OF BGN 2 BILLION.
During the next program period until 2027, "Fund Manager of Financial Instruments in Bulgaria" EAD (Fund of Funds) will manage BGN 2 billion of public resources. A significant amount of private co-financing will be added to it, with which the financial resources can reach BGN 4 billion. This was stated by Nikolay Genchev, a member of the newly appointed Supervisory Board of the Fund of Funds, whose principal is the Ministry of Innovation and Growth.
Since its establishment in 2015, the Fund has supported over 2,500 projects of companies and municipalities. Behind them are equity investments in over 200 innovative startups, nearly 700 microloans for small businesses and social enterprises, almost BGN 500,000 in credit financing for regional and municipal projects, BGN 540 million for 1,300 small and medium-sized enterprises to overcome the consequences from the Covid-19 pandemic, etc.
There are nearly BGN 600 million of free resources from the old program period for financing businesses and municipalities in various forms. The remaining funds to be used next year are BGN 200 million for equity investments through the five funds that are in the system of the Ministry of Innovation and Growth, BGN 200 million for debt financing through the seven banks with which The fund works, BGN 150 million for financing municipal projects, BGN 75 million for agriculture, about BGN 120 million for municipalities, as well as a significant resource for business microcredits.
To access this resource, beneficiaries should visit the website of the Fund of Funds (Fund Manager of Financial Instruments in Bulgaria|FMFIB) and contact its experts who will direct them to the appropriate instruments, banks or fund managers. In addition to the listed beneficiaries who can receive support from the Fund, it can provide assistance, through a financial intermediary, and only for an idea of a person who still wants to develop his own business. Funding can start from 50,000 euros and reach up to 1 million euros. In this way, more than 200 startups in Bulgaria have already been financed.
"During the current program period, the Fund has a total of BGN 1.2 billion in public resources (European and national) and another BGN 1 billion in private co-financing, or a total of BGN 2.2 billion, which have already reached the final are beneficiaries," Genchev also pointed out.
He emphasized that in order for companies, municipalities, startups and other possible beneficiaries to use this resource, they should ask at the bank branches of the banks serving them about the instruments of the Fund of Funds, as well as read more on the Fund's website.
The task of the Fund of Funds is to structure and manage financial instruments under the various European programs. The final beneficiaries of the funds received from the Fund can be, in addition to various businesses - start-ups, small, large, expanding, as well as municipalities, regions, water and sanitation companies throughout the country, agricultural producers, small and family businesses, etc.
A large part of the Fund of Funds resource for the new operational period was provided by the Ministry of Innovation and Growth under the program "Innovation and Competitiveness in Enterprises". The money will be invested in the form of various financial instruments to support businesses, municipalities, farmers, startups, etc.
12.01.2023
KAUFLAND GIVES SCHOLARSHIPS TO AMATEUR BEEKEEPERS
Enrollment for the new academic year at the first amateur school for beekeepers - "Beekeeping University", which is running its second edition in our country with the support of the "green" retailer Kaufland Bulgaria, runs until February 9. The aim of the project is to promote beekeeping in our country and to train a new generation of modern beekeepers. The initiative is implemented by "Real Honey".
The new edition of "Beekeeping University" offers three training courses - from a fully online course to real-time lectures and hands-on training from professional beekeepers in the field. The number of students who will be admitted to each of them is unlimited, and registration is done through the university's website.
Applicants can receive scholarships for their studies, some of which are provided by Kaufland. Full information about the study program, the participation fee and enrollment deadlines can be found on the university's website: https://istinskimed.bg/bee-university.
The flexible training format - the possibilities for online meetings, "live" talks and practical training, allows to learn the subtleties related to the cultivation of these extremely interesting and useful insects. The training includes all mandatory topics from the beekeeping literature, but also adds topics on the application of new technologies in beekeeping. The lecturers at the university are experienced beekeepers, teachers and scientists from Bulgaria and abroad. Thus, the school gives amateur beekeepers a chance to become professionals, which are not available in Bulgaria at the moment.
Kaufland Bulgaria recognizes the cause of promoting beekeeping as part of its commitment to protecting biodiversity and bees. The company has a targeted policy to reduce and avoid pesticides in growing flowers and plants and works with its suppliers to use mostly organic preparations. The chain includes bee-friendly seeds and plants in its assortment.
11.01.2023
JANUARY 11 - INTERNATIONAL DAY OF THE WORD "THANK YOU!"
On today's date, many countries around the world celebrate the International Day of the most beautiful word - "Thank you!". A wonderful occasion to express our gratitude to family, friends, colleagues and anyone who made our day better.
Experts say that words of gratitude can warm and calm people mentally. As long as they are spoken from the heart, of course.
Receiving a "Thank you" after a favor or good deed automatically makes us feel better. So don't forget to reward anyone who earns the magic word.
Scientists believe that verbal, written or ritual expressions of gratitude have a profound positive effect on us. Just saying the word "thank you" releases feel-good chemicals in our body, such as dopamine and serotonin, which make us feel happy and relaxed.
Both the person expressing their gratitude and the one to whom we thank feel the beneficial influence of oxytocin, the love hormone that is abundant in the bodies of couples in love.
"If gratitude were a drug, it would be the best-selling drug in the world," says Dr. Murali Doraiswamy of Duke University. "It has a beneficial effect on every important organ in our body."
Stress hormones like cortisol also decrease with the simple act of expressing gratitude. Scientists from the University of "Kent" in the USA have measured the exact effect of expressing this good feeling. Steve Toepfer and his students wrote thank-you letters to their acquaintances, in which they expressed their gratitude for something important in their lives, not just for a gift received or a nice party.
Comparing the "grateful" with the control group of students, who had not thanked anyone for anything, showed that in the former, the level of general satisfaction with life significantly increased, and the symptoms of depression significantly weakened.
However, it is important to express true gratitude, the scientists emphasize - our body recognizes it as a very positive event and responds accordingly with its gratitude to your action. Its "reward" systems are designed to ignore insignificant events as "background noise" but mark the important ones with a strong response that makes us feel happy and lowers the stress that harms our physical health.
"If you want to be happier and healthier, take 15 minutes to write someone a thank-you note," advises Toepfer. This is how you direct your brain's attention to the thought that something good has happened. This will cause it to respond with a wave of neurotransmitters – chemicals that help our body know whether we are feeling good or bad.
The effect is so significant that it can be used in the treatment of mild to moderate depression, Doraiswamy claims. Simple politeness causes our brains to make us "happy" with a dose of pleasure hormones.
11.01.2023
BGN 117 MILLION FOR FAMILY BUSINESSES UNDER THE NEW COMPETITIVENESS PROGRAM
As early as January 2023, the Ministry of Innovation and Growth will launch applications for grants for the modernization of family businesses and companies from the creative industries and crafts.
It will be possible under the procedure for Improving the production capacity of small and medium-sized enterprises worth over BGN 117 million. It is under the "Competitiveness and Innovations in Enterprises" Program.
The procedure will be aimed at small and medium-sized enterprises and, more precisely, family businesses - enterprises that are owned by more than one family member. Eligible expenses will be aimed at acquiring machinery, equipment, equipment and software related to the production goals of the enterprises.
The application will only be made electronically through the ISUN system.
11.01.2023
HOW PEOPLE CAN GET AN ELECTRONIC CRIMINAL RECORD?
We know that government agencies that used to require us to provide a criminal record for various services or registrations now receive the information through the official route, rather than having us walk to Criminal Records desks for a paper original. And the information whether we have been convicted and for what, is needed in various cases - if we apply to the Ministry of the Interior, the State Agency for National Security, we want a permit for weapons or for securities trading.
However, there are still a number of cases where we have to get a criminal record certificate ourselves - for example, when we start working in a private company or get a license to practice a certain regulated profession.
In these cases, the state had provided the possibility since 2013 for Bulgarians to apply for and receive it electronically. However, for this purpose one had to have a qualified electronic signature of an individual with a personal identification number in the certificate, and until recently their prices were not at all low for their mass issuance, and in fact only a few thousand people owned them (company electronic signatures do not work in this case). Separately, the electronic ID could only be applied for by people born in the country who had never been convicted.
In all other cases, you had to visit the "Conviction" office in person at the district court of your place of residence, because only there were paper and electronic records of criminal records for Bulgarian citizens born in the territory under the jurisdiction of the respective district court.
However, the Centralized Automated Information System "Judicial Status" has been operating for several months, which enables almost every Bulgarian citizen to apply for a criminal record certificate electronically. What is needed?
In addition to the classic qualified electronic signature, the so-called cloud KEP (which is claimed through a mobile application from the phone and the use of which is free when signing in to the state's electronic authentication systems). In addition, citizens can be identified with an identification code of the National Social Security Institute or the National Revenue Agency. These are codes that more and more citizens have because they help them submit declarations, make inquiries and request services in these two institutions.
In terms of payment, it is enough to have a bank card, which almost all Bulgarians of working age have.
As for the restrictions by place of residence or legal status, the system now enables the applicant to request an electronic criminal record certificate, even if he was not born in Bulgaria, and even if he was convicted or fined under Art. 78a.
The information arrays of the Central Bureau "Sudimost" have been merged with all 113 bureaus in the country. Thus, data on the status of citizens is processed and stored in only one database, instead of in the local databases of the district courts of residence. For years, local criminal records bureau databases were manually updated based on court bulletins, making the process extremely unreliable, time-consuming and difficult to control.
In addition to the changes in the online service, the new information system makes it possible to issue paper criminal record certificates to all citizens, from every Criminal Record Office in the country, regardless of the person's place of birth or address registration. The paper original of the certificate has a QR code that leads to the electronic content of the document.
This is no small relief, because district court reports indicate that citizens still prefer to apply for criminal records over the counter, rather than online, which was probably also due to the limitations that the electronic service had until now.
11.01.2023
ALL ABOUT FATHER'S LEAVE
RIGHT TO CHILDBIRTH LEAVE:
If you are married to the child's mother or live in the same household with her, you are entitled to 15 days of leave upon the birth of the child from the date of his discharge from the hospital. You have the same right if you and your partner have adopted a child under the age of 5 under the conditions of full adoption. In this case, your leave starts from the day the child was handed over to you.
Childbirth leave can be used on the basis of a written application to your employer. The following apply to it:
Important: Leave is claimed and used on calendar days.
If your documents are in order, your employer is obliged to allow you to use the leave from the day specified in the application.
You, for your part, are obliged to notify your employer immediately if, during your paternity leave:
If these circumstances exist, the leave is terminated.
You may terminate the use of the leave by written application to your employer.
RIGHT TO USE LEAVE APPLICABLE TO THE CHILD'S MOTHER:
You may use leave instead of the child's mother for the remainder of up to 410 days only with her consent after the child reaches 6 months of age, and the mother's leave is interrupted.
You use this leave on the basis of a written application to your employer, to which are attached:
The enterprise is obliged to grant leave from the day specified in the application.
You cannot take paternity leave at the same time as leave in the event of the death or serious illness of a parent.
When the mother (adoptive mother) of a child up to 2 years of age or the adoptive mother of a child from 2 to 5 years of age dies or becomes seriously ill, due to which she cannot take care of the child, the relevant part of the maternity, adoption and child-rearing leave of a small child are used by the father (adoptive). With his consent, these leaves can be used by one of his parents or by one of the parents of the child's deceased or seriously ill mother (adoptive mother), when he is employed.
The mother has the right to withdraw her consent at any time by written application to her employer and to the father's employer and to continue using her personal leave. To the application to her employer, the mother attaches the child's birth certificate or the child's handover certificate for adoption and a declaration according to Annex No. 7 to the Ordinance on working hours, breaks and vacations.
The father can also terminate the use of the leave with a written application to the company where he works.
Your leave ends when:
The use of maternity leave is not terminated when the mother uses another type of leave to which she is entitled.
The time during which the leave is used is recognized as work experience.
Important: As long as you take the leave described above, you are covered by redundancy protection.
INDEMNIFICATION:
You receive cash compensation for the working days of this 15-day period, regardless of the compensation that the insured mother receives for pregnancy and childbirth. Thus, you both receive compensation at the same time.
Here, however, you receive the benefit instead of the child's mother - that is, only you.
10.01.2023
HOW TO PAY YOUR TAXES ONLINE?
Online payment of taxes and social security contributions is one of the most preferred electronic services of the National Revenue Agency. Since the beginning of the year, almost BGN 450 million have been paid without fees through the so-called virtual POS (the e-service of the NRA for card payments), and since its creation in 2018, more than 2 .5 million transactions for almost BGN 1.2 billion, the agency reported.
The electronic service "Information on obligations with the possibility of making a payment" is available with a Personal identification code or a Qualified electronic signature in the Portal for electronic services of the NRA.
The revenue agency specifies that no fees are due for the payment through the virtual POS terminal and it is reflected in the client's tax-insurance account immediately, without the usual delay of a bank transfer.
Online payment remains the most convenient and preferred way to repay debts. More and more parents are choosing to pay their taxes and social security through the virtual POS, as a key requirement for child and disabled tax relief is that they have no unpaid public debt that is subject to compulsory collection.
The NRA recommends the use of the Portal for electronic services both for payment of obligations and for submitting declarations, requesting documents, obtaining references and information, because it saves time and money for customers.
10.01.2023
THE PATENT OFFICE GRANTS OF UP TO 1,500 EUROS TO SMALL AND MEDIUM-SIZED ENTERPRISES
The Patent Office of the Republic of Bulgaria announced a grant for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) for the protection of intellectual property in 2023. The vouchers, which will be available this year, cover up to 90 percent of the costs and almost all activities that SMEs need to carry out in the process of acquiring protection for their intellectual property, with the maximum amount for reimbursement reaching 1500 euros.
The Patent Office informs businesses that the EU Office for Intellectual Property (SESIS) foresees a new initiative to increase the budget of the Fund for Small and Medium Enterprises in the EU for 2023. The aim is to support businesses in increasing their competitiveness through better protection and use of intellectual property rights.
“Work on the SME Support Program was launched on a pilot basis in 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Then the SME Fund 2021 was approved and created within the framework of the COSME program. Its aim was to provide financial support to those EU SMEs who wish to either obtain a service for preliminary diagnosis of intellectual property (IP Scan) or obtain protection for their trademarks and/or designs", commented Prof. Vladya Borisova, Chairman of the Patent Office.
The aggregated results are conclusive: 12,989 EU-level grant requests were submitted for a total of €3,750,172.60, with an average payout of €500. In 2021, 77 percent of SMEs who applied for grants were first-time IP applicants, and 52 percent of beneficiaries indicated that they would not have applied for intellectual property protection without the Fund's support SMEs.
This gives the Office reason not only to continue the work of the Fund, but also to update some of the actions so that they meet the needs of SMEs as much as possible, commented the Patent Office of Bulgaria.
The vouchers
There are two significant changes for 2023 – an increase in the budget and a shorter activation period for each of the four vouchers, reduced to two months with the possibility of extending it to four months. This would help to optimize the implementation of the budget by allowing a faster release of unused funds to SMEs.
"SMEs are the driving force of the European economy and account for 65.2 percent of all jobs in the EU. In Bulgaria, the picture is no different - SMEs traditionally contribute to three quarters of total employment and to nearly 65 percent of the added value in the country's economy", says Prof. Borisova and adds that it is they who offer innovative solutions to many urgent challenges and help spread innovation across Europe. However, only 10 percent of European SMEs have registered intellectual property rights. Therefore, according to all analyses, they need support to increase their competitiveness through better protection and use of intellectual property objects.
Context
The SME Fund is an initiative that aims to financially support small and medium-sized enterprises in the EU in protecting and managing their intellectual property rights through the national, regional, European and international intellectual property systems, using part of the Office's financial reserves. The initiative is implemented by the Office in partnership with the European Commission and with the support of the European Union Intellectual Property Network (EUIPN).
In November 2020, the Management Board and the Budget Committee approved the establishment of the 2021 SME Fund under the Competitiveness of Enterprises and SMEs (COSME) programme. The action started on January 11, 2021 and ended on June 30, 2022.
Based on the success and lessons learned from this first call for proposals, in November 2021 the Management Board and the Budget Committee approved the establishment of the multiannual initiative "SME Fund" for the period 2022-2024 under the Single Market Program (SMP) of EU.
09.01.2023
WHAT ARE THE CONDITIONS FOR RETIREMENT IN 2023?
The Ministry of Labor and Social Policy recalls on its Facebook page that from January 1, 2023. the conditions for receiving a pension for full insurance service and age are changed.
In order to acquire the right to a pension for length of service and age from 1 January 2023, insured persons must have reached the minimum retirement age and a certain length of service.
The department points out that this year men in our country will be able to retire at the age of 64 years and 6 months and 39 years and 4 months of service, and women at the age of 62 years and 36 years and 4 months of service.
The Ministry of Labor and Social Policy also reminds what the conditions are for 1 year early retirement. For men, respectively - age 63 years and 7 months and 39 years and 6 months of service and for women - age 61 years and 2 months and 36 years and 6 months of service.
For every month missing from the general retirement age, the pension is reduced for life by 0.4%, the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy further specifies.
The right to a pension is not extinguished by statute of limitations. Persons who in the previous year fulfilled the conditions for acquiring the right to a pension for length of service and age will be able to retire at any subsequent moment under the conditions already fulfilled and in the following years, regardless of whether there are changes in the conditions for retirement. The receipt of a pension is extinguished with the expiration of a 3-year statute of limitations, starting from January 1 of the year following the year to which it relates.
The foreseen smooth increase and gradual equalization of the retirement age for retirement under the general rules (under Article 68, paragraph 1 of the Social Security Code) (for both women and men) should end at the age of 65 and for both sexes in 2037. After that, the age under Art. 68, para. 1 of the Social Security Code will be linked to the increase in average life expectancy (on the basis of Article 68, Paragraph 5 of the Social Security Code).
The required insurance length of service for retirement (under Article 68, paragraph 2 of the Social Insurance Code) for those working under the conditions of the third labor category also increases by two months per year for women and men until reaching 37 years in 2037 for women and 40 years for men.
09.01.2023
FINANCIAL SUPPORT WILL BE PROVIDED TO EMPLOYERS TO HIRE UNEMPLOYED YOUTH
Financial support will be provided to employers who employ unemployed youth up to the age of 29. The funds are provided under the "New opportunities for youth employment" project.
Employers from the real sector, as well as bodies of the executive power according to the Law on Local Self-Government and Local Administration, municipal enterprises under Art. 52 of the Law on Municipal Property, the bodies of the central administration of the executive power and their territorial structures, according to Art. 38 of the Law on Administration, and the latter can apply for vacancies only for internships with an employer for young people with completed higher education.
Support is provided to employers who employ unemployed youth up to the age of 29 through the following three options:
The project also reimburses expenses for public transport of passengers by buses according to the approved republican, regional or municipal transport schemes or for rail transport of passengers in cases where the unemployed person has accepted the "suitable job" offered by the Employment Agency in the sense of the Law on employment promotion Transport costs cover the value of the supporting documents (tickets – up to 2 means of transport per day in one direction; day passes) corresponding to the days worked for the first month of the internship/on-the-job training/employment.
All procedures and necessary documents for application and inclusion in the project are published on the website of the Employment Agency.
After the approval of the employer and the unemployed persons, an employment contract is concluded between the Employment Agency and the employer. Employers are reimbursed already incurred expenses for wages and insurance contributions for the persons employed under the project, and the possibility to reimburse, in addition to already paid, but only accrued expenses of the persons who worked during the reporting month, is also regulated.
It is also important to know that:
