The state is ready to bankrupt businesses instead of paying for social and economic measures, the Bulgarian Hotel and Restaurant Association (BHRA) announced. This became clear from the introduction of the mandatory „Green Certificate“ for hotels and restaurants, although only 20% of the population in Bulgaria is vaccinated. The Association commented:
„We from the BHRA have repeatedly stated that the health and lives of our employees and customers come first, but in case of restrictions, they must be valid for all, not just for some sectors, as is the case, and must be accompanied by economic and social measuresInstead of accepting such, however, the government prefers to bankrupt businesses, without apparently realizing that it is the taxes and revenues of the employees of these companies that support the country’s government officials and pensioners, the health system, the education and defense sectors, etc.“
The BHRA cannot understand why the rules are valid for business again, but teachers and the administration will continue to work without having to provide a health certificate, unlike their employees. BHRA Deputy Chairman Atanas Dimitrov said that some of their staff refuse to be vaccinated, and they either have to close restaurants and hotels, or the same employees work around the clock, because others prefer to leave instead of being immunized. The Association also stated:
„We approve the introduction of the Green Certificate, but as it is in Europe – with over 75% of the population vaccinated. Not as it is in Bulgaria. With 20% vaccinated, there are not enough people with a Green Certificate using services. In this case, once again, business has to pay for the failure of the authorities to convince people that there are benefits to vaccines. The civil servants themselves are also not vaccinated en masse, but instead of trying to convince them of the benefits of immunization, the government prefers to take out the stick and put it on the business sector, which for a year and a half has been complying with all the measures imposed, despite the lack of adequate social and economic compensation, and and often without any benefits such as the hotel industry.”
The Association is adamant that in a situation where electricity costs are increasing 4 times and the measures lead to almost zero turnover for the business, the state takes absolutely no action to support the tourism business despite dozens of proposals to provide cheap loans and social measures to protect employees in the sector. They point out that it is because of this policy that hotels and restaurants are going bankrupt – because of lack of staff, revenue and customers and at the same time repeatedly increased costs.
Dimitrov stressed that the mass bankruptcies of business and the energy war, from which all those who work hard to sustain the bureaucracy, the health care and the pension system, have suffered, are, in our opinion, a sufficient reason to declare a state of emergency to help people and businesses. BHRA offers:
„Considering the current situation in the country, a total lockdown should be imposed for 3 weeks instead of killing business by introducing Green Certificates which will neither help stop the spread of COVID-19 nor will the new conditions benefit the survival of business. We insist that the lockdown cover all areas except grocery stores and pharmacies so that there is a level playing field. Such a lockdown will probably have a serious impact on electricity speculators, because there will be no electricity consumption during this time and prices are unlikely to remain the same.“
