On the 13th day of the negotiations between teachers unions and the parliament it became clear that a resolution of the problem is entirely in the hands of the council of the ruling tripartite coalition.

"We cannot guarantee anything without the political sanction of the council, which would be clear on Friday," Education Minister Daniel Vulchev was quoted by Dnevnik daily as saying.

Valentin Nikiforov accused the cabinet of delaying negotiations in order to force teachers to go back to work as they do not receive a salary while on strike. During the negotiations it became clear that the budget for education would be fully spend this year, and not only 90 per cent as with other segments.

Finance Minister Plamen Oresharski said that for 2008 the budget for education would be a little over four per cent of GDP. For 2007 it was 3.9 per cent.

At the negotiations, Vulchev proposed to the unions to link salaries of teachers to those of doctors and administrative staff. Unions proposed to restructure a number ofinefficient sectors in the state administration. Oresharski accepted the idea and invited the unions to propose which those sectors were.

Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev said on October 11 that a 100 per cent increase of the salaries for teachers would not be possible without sharply reducing the number of teachers. Otherwise the state would collapse, he said. Deputy Finance Minister Lyubomir Datsov said that not the cabinet should increase the salaries of the teachers, but the municipalities. Datsov said municipalities and schools have the possibilities to move expenses from one allocation to another.

Earlier in the day, Citizens for the European Development of Bulgaria (CEDB) sent a letter to President Georgi Purvanov in which it invited the president to not be a passive witness and to assess the leadership of minsters Vulchev and Oresharski, Dnevnik daily said.