Workers from Maritsa East Mining Company Hold a Protest for Higher Coal Price

Workers from Mini Maritsa Iztok, the largest coal mining company in the country, are staging a protest on 24^th of April. They insist on an increase in the price of coal by 15%.

Miners' demands were discussed last week at a meeting with Bulgaria’s Minister of Energy Temenuzhka Petkova. She declined the requested increase on the grounds that the rise in the price of coal would lead to a rise in electricity prices for households and industry.

Three are the main demands of miners. They want an increase in the price of coal. Currently, it is 77 BGN per tonne and with the required increase it should become just over 88 BGN. Another request of the miners is a pay rise as their salaries have not been changed for almost 10 years, the two trade unions, Podkrepa and the confederation of the Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria (CITUB) claim.

The third demand of the protesters is to save Bulgarian coal mining.

Due to the European directive on stricter environmental requirements for thermal power plants, the investment in the Maritsa Coal Basin is very large and this may lead to their closure. That is why Bulgaria is applying for a derogation, ie. to postpone the implementation of the new European environmental requirements.