Amendments in the Labour Code suggested by the Cabinet aimed to increase sanctions for labour legislation violations, Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev said at a news conference on July 16.

The Cabinet wanted a consistent policy to protect all European regulations related to labour and insurance of Bulgarian employees. A good business climate was important to ensure a good social policy, he said, as quoted by Focus news agency. “For us it is important not only to improve the standard of life via an increase of income, but also to guarantee greater social security,” Stanishev said.

“Some five or six years ago, the unemployment rate was very different; today it [has dropped to] nearly six per cent and is even decreasing – this is below the average level in Europe,” he said. It was not finding a job, but providing good labour conditions that was the problem, according to Stanishev.

The majority of the Bulgarians, 97.4 per cent, approved the great increase in financial sanctions for employers who violated their workers’ rights, research presented at the news conference showed. Most people questioned, 64.12 per cent, said that if the amount of fines was increased, few employers would hire workers without labour contracts. Even more, 62.8 per cent, said that bigger fines would lead to fewer labour safety violations.

Labour and Social Policy Minister Emilia Maslarova said that Bulgaria was one of the countries where income tax was the lowest, 10 per cent. The Labour Code amendments were aimed to discipline the labour market and to stimulate responsible employers.

Labour Ministry inspectors examined more than 15 000 companies in the first half of 2008, which was 41 per cent more than the same period in 2007. “There are no untouchable companies that are under an umbrella and cannot be examined,” Maslarova said. The examinations registered more than 98 000 violations of labour legislation, she said, as quoted by Focus. Surprise inspections would continue across the whole country, Maslarova said.