TEAM in the media about the pension system and the economic situation

Pension reform for the young is one of the leading campaigns of EKIP, which is why our experts are often invited by the media on this topic. In February, our editor-in-chief – Georgi Vuldjev – had important appearances on the topic on some of the largest television channels. At the beginning of the month, on the air of the morning block of BTV, he commented with Evelina Miltenova, chairwoman of the Bulgarian Association of Supplementary Pension Insurance Companies, whether there is room for concern about the profitability of private pension funds.

Vuldjev summarized that the past year was very bad for the markets, there were very large corrections and downward trends, so it is not unexpected to see a serious decline in the profitability of universal funds. According to him, the more serious problem is that in the long term, pension funds only manage to protect money from inflation, but they bring almost no real profitability.

At the end of the month, in the program "More from the Day" on BNT, Vuldjev commented on the new formula for calculating the size of pensions. There, he emphasized that such relatively superficial changes do not address the truly important problems of pension insurance and emphasized that a fundamental structural reform of the system is necessary. The low profitability of private pension funds, which is due to a lack of competition in the second pillar and the need to carry out regulatory reform, was again discussed.

In the morning block of Bulgaria ON AIR, the editor-in-chief of EKIP commented on the economic outlook for the rest of the year: "In the context of the serious slowdown observed in the second half of 2018 and at the beginning of 2019, not only in our country, but also in other European economies, I do not see how these growth forecasts (of the government) will be fulfilled, it is impossible."

Our political scientist Kaloyan Pravov participated in a discussion on the program " Referendum " about the role of young people in politics and, together with other young analysts, discussed the most current political and social issues. He also took a stance on international topics - the Brexit negotiations and the "State of the Union" speech of US President Donald Trump.

Again in "Referendum", our health economist Arkadi Sharkov stated the need for reform in the TELK, the need to optimize the mechanism for issuing a disability decision and receiving a "pension".

On NOVA News, he spoke about the problems in healthcare, but also about the positive results: decreasing child mortality and increasing average life expectancy. On Plus-Minus, he expressed his opinion on the state of hospitals and the problems with their subsidization.

Stoyan Panchev explained to the viewers of Bulgaria ON AIR the issues of the labor market, the import of Vietnamese workers and the demographic situation in Bulgaria: "The welfare state has this effect. When you have the opportunity not to work and still survive, you can make the choice - no, my salary in this job is too low and accordingly I can use my welfare state to survive."

In the studio of " Eszte ot dne " the issue of Bulgaria's admission to the Eurozone was being discussed. According to Panchev, the euro is an unreformed currency system that causes crises like the one in Greece and the one looming in Italy. He believes that Bulgaria should stick to the currency board that has proven itself over the years.

On TV Europe, our chairman opposed Lyubomira Gancheva (deputy chairman of ABV), who attacked the flat tax and criticized her proposal for the introduction of a taxable minimum.

We also noted two appearances with commentary on international topics broadcast on the Military Television Channel: Stoyan Panchev– on the topic "Trump, the Wall and the State of Emergency" and Arkadi Sharkov– on the "EU-Japan Free Trade Agreement".

Dimitar Karagegov spoke on the Bulgarian National Radio about the possibility of allowing the use of medical cannabis in Bulgaria. In the program " Night Birds " he was invited as one of the most interesting speakers from the TEDx platform - the event will be held on March 9th at the National Theater.

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