The national budget 2006 needed to provide an additional 80 million leva for healthcare and education, former finance minister and National Movement Simeon II (NMSII) member Milen Velchev proposed yesterday. Between the first and the second reading, the budget could allocate an additional 56.5 million leva for education and 20.5 million leva more for healthcare, Velchev said.
The NMSII's proposition has to be discussed initially with the party's partners in the ruling coalition - the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) and the Movement for Rights and Freedom (MRF). The party would not seek the acceptance of the proposal against the will of its partners, Velchev said. Additional funds in the education sphere will be needed for the planned structural reforms. Velchev said that the demands of teachers, who have started a hunger strike, for a 15 per cent salary increase are unrealistic. He also said that an additional 17 million leva should be allocated for expensive medications, Novinar newspaper reported.