GERB, UNITED PATRIOTS REACH AGREEMENT ON PENSIONS IN COALITION GOVERNMENT TALKS

The participants did not specify the exact size of the pension they agreed on.

The topic of pensions has been seen as a difficult one in the negotiations because the alliance had state pension increase as a key element in their election platform, while GERB pledged to maintain tight fiscal policies that would underpin the peg of the Bulgarian currency (BGN) to the euro.

So far, the two sides have reached agreements on policies in the areas of security, energy, sports and tourism.

“We have reached agreement on a very important topic, the pensions and we continue to work on policies for other sectors,” Deputy Chair of GERB, Tvetan Tsvetanov, told journalists. He added that by Thursday the negotiators should be ready with the programme strategy on governance.

Both him and Valeri Simeonov, the leader of NFSB (a constituent party of the United Patriots) refused to announce specific figures until the final version of the strategy was ready. Tsvetanov said that the two sides made compromises guided by the interest “Bulgaria above all”.

Later on 11^th of April, a meeting will be held between GERB and the Bulgfarina socialist party regarding key priorities for Bulgaria’s forthcoming Presidency of the Council of the European Union in 2018.