The June 4 2009 Cabinet meeting saw Finance Minister Plamen Oresharski propose a 15 per cent salary cut for ministers and other state office-bearers and Prime Minister ask ministries to come up with proposals to optimise spending.
 
There will be a freeze on other public salaries and bonuses for civil servants, teachers and doctors. Oresharski has proposed a moratorium on recruitment, a cap on phone, car and travel spending and a ban on the purchase of vehicles, computers and air conditioners.
 
The scheme would save 500 million leva, Oresharski said. A final decision on the proposals is to be made within a week.
 
Stanishev said the saving was a responsible move to avoid a burden on the next government.
 
Bulgaria goes to the polls in European Parliament elections on June 7, and on July 5 will elect a new National Assembly. Stanishev’s Bulgarian Socialist Party is said by polls to be placed to come second in both, while coalition partner the Movement for Rights and Freedoms will be third and Simeon Saxe-Coburg’s National Movement for Stability and Progress, most polls say, is unlikely to get over the threshold for any seats in either election.
 
Oresharski said that the Cabinet had discussed the performance of the state budget up to May 2009 and has been informed of the situation with natural gas deliveries and transiting.
 
The Finance Ministry reports six per cent less revenues on last year.
 
Stanishev called on local authorities and private sector employers to follow suit in making savings.
 
The online English-language version of Dnevnik said that the  proposal comes after March and April decisions by the Government that splashed more than 660 million leva on controversial EU-funded projects, renovations and other undertakings.
 
On June 4, ministers confirmed the planned increase in pensions by almost nine per cent from July 1, which will accumulate 315 million leva in new spending to the state pension fund by the end of the year, according to the National Statistical Institute (NSI).
 
A source speaking on condition of anonymity told Dnevnik that with budget revenue headed for a six billion leva collapse and existing buffers of four billion leva, the Cabinet needs to curtail spending plans by at least two billion leva.
 
Analysts dubbed the proposed measures a publicity stunt ahead of the parliamentary elections due on July 5, Dnevnik said.