Retirement Funds 'Nationalization' Enters Bulgarian Constitutional Court

Some texts of the Social Security Act will be challenged in the Bulgarian Constitutional Court, the right-wing Blue Coalition announced Wednesday.

The Coalition is joined by the left-wing Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), the ethnic Turkish party Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS) and several independent Members of the Parliament, who want the texts declared anti-constitutional.

The co-Chair of the Blue Coalition, Ivan Kostov, announced they have been able to collect 52 signatures in less than an hour.

The text in question allows the private retirement social security funds of employees to be transferred to the retirement fund of the National Social Security Institute (NOI). The rightists say this leads to an unacceptable termination of contracts between the insurance funds and the insured workers.

The transferred amount is estimated at BGN 100 000 M.

Kostov insists there were dishonest insurers who failed to deposit the funds as required by law to the individual policies accounts with the silent approval of the labor unions while the transfer of these accounts to NOI now is a cover up for the above said insurers.

The other Blue Coalition co-Chair Martin Dimitrov, added people must be given the right to decide themselves if they want their insurance contributions to be deposited in private funds or in NOI.

Meanwhile 52 MPs from BSP and DPS submitted a claim to the Constitutional Court regarding amendments to the Film Industry Act which provide subsidies for up to 7 motion pictures, 14 documentaries and 160 minutes of animation and only "if there is a possibility" in budget 2011 for it.

The BSP MP, Lyuben Kornezov, pointed out these amendments are the work of 4 MPs from the ruling Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (GERB) party, who have nothing to do with filmmaking and have been passed through one read, even though the Constitution says there must be two reads in order to pass a Bill.