Lack of a quorum of the Economic Committee of the National Assembly may lead to the delay of our country for the Eurozone

The meeting of the Committee on Economic Policy and Innovations of the National Assembly also failed today due to lack of quorum. At 15:00, MPs from "Continuing the Change" and "Democratic Bulgaria" came, as well as two representatives of GERB-SDS.

The MPs had to discuss and vote on changes to the Insurance Code and are related to the country's commitments under the "Green Card" system, as they are not supported by the insurance industry in our country. And according to experts, it can lead to a drastic increase in liability insurance.

However, the changes to the Insurance Code are part of the requirements for Bulgaria's accession to the Eurozone, and if they are not accepted, they may stop the process and postpone the introduction of the euro from the beginning of 2024.

At the suggestion of the chairman of the commission, Martin Dimitrov, a working group was held, which again, as on Friday evening, listened to the position of the Minister of Finance, Rositsa Velkova. She categorically stood behind the proposals of the Council of Ministers and spoke against the proposals of the parliamentary groups of GERB-SDS, "Vazrazhdane" and "Bulgarian Rise", submitted between the two readings. If the changes to the Code are not accepted by the National Assembly, Bulgaria may have problems for admission to the Eurozone, said Minister Velkova, BTA reported.

Minister Velkova pointed out that the Ministry of Finance received negative opinions from the Council of Green Card Bureaus and from the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) about the proposals of the three parliamentary groups. The proposal of the MPs for benefits under "Green Card" insurance is that until the payment of the damage, the presentation of "validity of the claim, including a bank statement for payment to the injured person or his heirs" will be requested. The importing MPs state that this is how they fight against abuses. The practice of all Green Card offices is to make the payment and only then to seek disputes and claims.

Velkova also pointed out that if the National Assembly makes changes to the Code, only high inflation will remain as a problem for our acceptance into the Eurozone, but our country can negotiate on this indicator. Velkova said that the budget deficit of our country for 2022 is 2.8 - 2.9 percent of GDP on an accrued basis and 0.8 percent on a cash basis.

Representatives of four employers' organizations spoke in support of accepting the texts proposed by the Ministry of Finance.

People's representative Alexander Ivanov from the GERB-SDS group said that if the proposals of the Ministry of Finance pass, the price of "Civil Liability" insurance will rise. Borislav Bogoev, Chairman of the Board of the National Bureau "Green Card" pointed out that the proposed changes in the code will make the work of the National Bureau more difficult in the future. He pointed out that the current Management Board of the Bureau has reduced the number and size of claims against Bulgarian insurance companies. He added that he could not say whether the legal changes would raise the price of liability insurance (to which Green Card insurance is related) because it is determined by many components, but called on MPs to make some decision.

Minister Velkova added that the Ministry of Finance joins the proposal for changes to the code made by MPs Martin Dimitrov, Yordan Ivanov and Iskren Mitev. The proposal was made after consultations with representatives of the branch and, according to Martin Dimitrov, they meet 80 percent of the requests of the Association of Bulgarian Insurers.