Up to 200 000 jobs can be provided by Bulgarian employers to Ukrainian citizens seeking asylum from the war in Bulgaria. This was said in an interview with BTA by the President of the Management Board of the Bulgarian Industrial Association Dobri Mitrev. BIA is currently the rotating chairman of the Association of the Organizations of Bulgarian Employers. There is almost no sector in which these people cannot find work, Mitrev added, highlighting tourism, mechanical engineering and transport.
The Ukrainian educational system is good, we are close in language, culture and religion, the things that bring us together are many, he said and reminded of the large Bulgarian diaspora there, whose members can quickly become part of our economy. Employers are in dialogue with the government to be able to exchange data on the supply and demand of labor in the country through a single information portal to help those leaving Ukraine.
Bulgaria has lost much of its workforce in recent years - many lost their lives in the pandemic, others went to seek their happiness outside the country, the demographic crisis has exacerbated the shortage of staff. All this forces us to look for staff and offer jobs to thousands of people, why not people fleeing the war, Mitrev said. He pointed out that employers are ready, together with state institutions, to take the necessary changes in regulations to facilitate the employment of people from third countries, including Ukrainian citizens.
Mitrev said that employers are preparing their positions on how to practically integrate the Ukrainian citizens who have chosen our country as a refuge from the war. The provision of work will be on the part of the employers, but the social conditions, the healthcare, the education for the children who come to our country must be a commitment of the Bulgarian state, Mitrev reminded. He described as the first step in support of Ukrainian citizens the opening by the Bulgarian government of the first in the EU single information portal to help those leaving the country. Through this portal the data on the number of people seeking asylum in our country will become clear. Talking about social and living conditions and jobs is the next step, so businesses will propose to the government to include in this platform the opportunity together with the Employment Agency to provide vacancies, data on employers looking for people with the relevant profile - education, specialty, professional qualifications.
Employers are also renewing their proposals for changes in the laws on foreigners and labor migration, but they must also be in the context of pan-European decisions, Mitrev said. These days it became known that the European Commission will propose to activate for the first time the directive for temporary protection of Ukrainian refugees, the media reported. The aim is to grant protection status to foreigners for the duration of their stay, access to the labor market, housing, health care, education and social protection systems, or livelihoods. The right to reunite families with certain requirements is also included.
Mitrev regretted that there were no visible proposals at EU level for safeguards that would work for the Community economy due to the hostilities in Ukraine. The Commission has practically no proposals for natural gas, leaving each country to save itself. If we cannot prepay for natural gas supplies due to sanctions and Russia's exclusion from SWIFT, we can expect this to be a reason for Russia to suspend supplies, Mitrev said. For this reason, he stressed that our country must quickly look for alternatives, but warned that other countries will do the same, and this will inevitably lead to rising prices to "unfortunately, sometimes it is impossible to pay them." There is no answer to the question of how and from where raw materials, imported from Ukraine and Russia, will be delivered and which are vital for European companies, he added. Employers will propose the creation of green corridors for the transport of such goods, Mitrev said, but stressed that if there is no truce, he is not optimistic that these corridors could happen because some of these products are virtually banned. For these corridors to happen, they must be the subject of negotiations between the EU and Russia, Mitrev added. On the other hand, we still do not know about the retaliatory Russian sanctions and whether there will be a restriction of energy resources, metals and raw materials, he reminded. For this reason, according to Mitrev, we need to focus on compensatory measures at the national level. Among them, he pointed out the request of the employers at least the compensation for the high electricity prices to continue as long as there is an uncertain situation and the electricity prices are at such high levels.
Business is looking forward to today's talks between Russia and Ukraine. This is the only hope of all reasonable people of the 21st century, in our opinion, only at the negotiating table is the decision for the world to save itself from the war, said Mitrev.
If the situation does not calm down quickly and diplomatic solutions are not found to escalate, we can expect dramatic consequences for our socio-economic life, including in terms of inflation, Mitrev predicts. We will all pay the price of military action. The price will be paid by innocent people - the citizens of Ukraine, Russia, Bulgaria, the whole EU. I hope we can pay for it, Mitrev added.
