Restaurants in Bulgaria can re-open on March 1

The restaurants, that were closed because of the antti-epidemic measures, will re-open on March 1. This became clear after a meeting of the owners of restaurants with the Minister of Health Prof. Kostadin Angelov on January 26.

Earlier, at an extraordinary government meeting, Prime Minister Boyko Borissov asked the Minister of Health to hold a meeting with representatives of restaurants, bars and nightclubs and to discuss possible solutions for the industry.

Representatives of the industry said that they received understanding and consensus in the talks with the minister.

"However, most of the issues to be resolved are of an economic nature and are not appropriate for discussion with the Minister of Health. We agreed that we will have his support in connection with an upcoming meeting with the PM’s team of economists and the PM himself, " they said after the talks.

According to them, the protest of the representatives of the branch planned for tomorrow has not been commented. They demand that all owners of closed establishments be compensated.

"We commented and clarified the parameters - we open the restaurants on March 1 and want predictability. The Minister undertakes that by the end of January absolutely all benefits and compensations will be paid to absolutely all establishments ", explained Zlatko Zlatanov, Deputy Chair of the Bulgarian Hotel and Restaurant Association.

"We insisted the most on not when to open and when to close the restaurants. We want to be compensated, the same way the establishments get compensated in Europe, and to have predictability. He said he would help, " he added.

The issue of opening nightclubs on March 14 was also touched upon at the meeting. However, this decision will also depend on the current epidemiological situation in the country.

According to restaurant owners, it is not fair to ease measures in certain sectors and not in others.

Yesterday, the Association of Restaurants asked the Minister of Health to resign and apologize for the damage. According to them, he is waging a personal war with the restaurants, not with COVID-19.