Podkrepa Labor Confederation President: National Recovery Plan Needs to Be Changed

Jerusalem, 8 February, 2023 (TPS) -- SOFIA, 08.02.2023 (BTA)
The National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP) needs to be changed, Podkrepa Confederation of Labor President Dimitar Manolov said here on Wednesday. He was speaking at the 11th Congress of Podkrepa, which coincides with the confederation’s 34th anniversary. Participating are over 570 delegates from across Bulgaria.

According to Manolov, the NRRP’s requirement for 40% decrease of emissions should be scrapped. The long-standing fights for preserving coal-fired plants in Bulgaria will continue, he added. “We all want to live in a clean environment and to breathe fresh mountain air, that is why we first need to be alive, and there is no life without energy,” he said. “If and when there is a sustainable alternative to coal and preserving jobs which to replace the empty talk about sun and wind, we will be the first to back it,” Manolov added. In his words, Podkrepa will not put up with political decisions that will turn Bulgaria from a regional energy leader into an energy loser.

Podkrepa’s main goal for the next term in office is to improve the legislation so that all employers would be included in real collective agreements and thus achieve the target of at least 80% of employees being covered by the collective agreement. The Confederation will also keep insisting on a working week of no more than 48 hours, instead of the current maximum of 56 hours, Manolov said.