[size=75:30wg5d88]Sofia echo Dec 14 2009

Half of Bulgarian pensioners to get 25 leva Christmas bonuses

About 1.1 million pensioners will get one-off 25 leva Christmas bonuses added to their regular pension payments, the Bulgarian Government's website said on December 13 2009.

Pensioners will get the money after the Christmas holidays on January 4 2010. Only pensioners whose monthly pensions are less than 200 leva will get the bonus.

The money will come from funds made available by cost-cutting by the state administration "
and this is the maximum amount of money we can spent on pensioners' bonuses this year,"
Prime Minister Boiko Borissov said after meeting Finance Minister Simeon Dyankov.

The reason why other Bulgarian pensioners, who number 1.2 million people, will not get bonuses this year was that the Budget could only afford bonuses only for those people who were in dire financial straits. Last year, all Bulgaria's pensioners got a 50 leva Christmas bonus.

To get the funds, Borissov asked all ministries and other state bodies not to give Christmas bonuses to their employees, although some such as Agriculture Ministry had made the required cuts to spending.

Borissov apologised to state administration employees for not giving them their traditional Christmas bonuses this year, and said that together with Dyankov, he was working on a scheme to compensate for this in 2010.

I know 25 leva will buy quite a lot for a Bulgaria but hey these people are the most vulnerable and I wonder how much the ministers will put in their own pockets

What a nice Xmas present for them,they definitely need it,especially after Xmas, the elderly in ther villiage where we have property, will be pleased.

I'm sure they will all be very happy with this I know what your saying scott but something is better than nothing and I think Bulgarian know how to spend their money wisely

I think that's a real nice gesture from the government

Very nice considering the recession so thumbs up from me [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

[size=75:ya0ek7qz]Sofia echo 17 December 2009

Don't seem fare when you read below ? but tell me what Government isn't as bad


Top magistrates pay themselves Christmas bonuses for their 'overall contribution to Bulgaria's judiciary in 2009'

Bulgaria's Supreme Judicial Council (SJC), which in recent years has been embroiled in a number of scandals bringing into question its credibility, has decided to give 5300 leva each in bonuses to all of its 25 members, Bulgarian-language Dnevnik daily said on December 17 2009.

The 25 SJC members will get the money for the "
SJC's overall contribution to Bulgaria's judiciary in 2009,"
Dnevnik said.

The original idea was that only three of SJC members would get the bonus. However, when it came to voting, the SJC decided to give all its members bonuses.

The reason given was that otherwise, rewarding just some SJC members would be "
a form of discrimination"
.

The SJC has been criticised frequently by Bulgarian public officials and NGOs for serious flaws in its work supervising the country's judiciary.

The series of scandals, the biggest of which was the so-called "
brokerage scandal"
regarding the SJC's appointment policy, also added to Bulgarians taking a dim view of the body.

The decision comes at a time when Finance Minister Simeon Dyankov is calling for all public bodies to cut costs, given the negative impact of the economic crisis.

Prime Minister Boiko Borissov has said that this year, employees of Government ministries will not get their traditional Christmas bonuses.

Separately, Borissov decided to give just half of Bulgaria's pensioners 25 leva Christmas bonuses, instead of last year's 50 leva paid to all pensioners. The 25 leva bonuses will go only to the most impoverished pensioners, Borissov said.

On December 16 2009, Parliament decided that MPs and Cabinet Ministers would not get Christmas bonuses.