15
TOWARDS STABILIZING THE CONDITIONS FOR HUMAN DEVELOPMENT?
of peoples health, submitted to the Na-
tional Assembly, for instance, should regu-
late relationships between the state and pri-
vate medical care - a problem that is pain-
ful to both doctors and the widest strata of
society.
Special attention is devoted to reform-
ing the social policy that has become kind
of a brake to economic reforms. A major
stage in this process is the separation of
the Social Security fund from the state bud-
get and the establishment of a National
Security Institute. 1995 saw the adoption
of a Law on amending and supplementing
the Law of Pensions, which helped do away
with deformities in determining the size of
pensions. Special measures were taken for
increasing the remuneration of certain cat-
egories of specialists (teachers and doctors)
that are most directly committed to the re-
production of the nations human poten-
tial. The Law on amending and supple-
menting the Labour Code answers the ob-
jectives of the social policy - the protection
of citizens labour rights and against the
opposition of interests of participants in the
labour process. Similar is the orientation
of the adopted New Guidelines of the state
policy for ensuring safe and hygienic con-
ditions of labour, that will have a long-term
impact on labour relations and improving
peoples health.
This vigorous legislative work is tak-
ing place against the background of cer-
tain stabilization of the rating of major
political institutions. It has hit the bottom
line prior to elections of December 1994.
In the middle of 1995 the picture is differ-
ent (See Table 1.4.).
The steps towards stabilizing the na-
tional policy, however, do not lead to uni-
form results. Unquestionable are the weak-
nesses in providing reliable and timely infor-
mation on the course, state and problems of
major production and distribution processes
and their coordination. Typical in this re-
spect are the problems that arose in con-
nection with the purchase of farm output
and its marketing in Bulgaria and on the
international market, which has brought
about disturbances in the grain balance.
The high rate of crime - from mass
street crime to pyramidal financial struc-
tures - faces the nation and the countrys
government with most serious problems.
Irrespective of the adopted amendments
and supplements to the Criminal and
Criminal Procedures Codes, and of the
programmes to combat specific types of
crime, the latter is still among the key fac-
tors for social insecurity. Registered crimes
did decrease by 6.9 per cent in 1995 as
against 1994. Yet the crime rate is still high
in view of countrys traditions, although it
is lower than that of the most advanced
countries. A new Law on the work of the
Ministry of Interior is needed so as to pro-
vide a better coordination among institu-
tions that combat crime. Urgent measures
are demanded to control street crime, and
extinguish the economic roots of organized
crime in smuggling, gambling, and corrup-
tion. National interests in the field of
privatization, in combatting corruption at
all levels demand effective protection.
Community should join the combat against
crime.
In the foreign policy, gradual resump-
tion of traditional
relationships with Rus-
Table 1.4.
Degree to which political institutions contribute to solving the
countrys problems (national surveys)
National Assembly
Presidency
Government
Oct. 94 June 95 Oct. 94 June 95 Oct. 94 June 95
- To a very
low degree
1
58.6
25.6
34.9
17.4
52.4
16.9
2
14.9
19.8
17.7
17.4
15.3
16.0
3
8.2
24.3
19.8
28.2
12.5
23.9
4
3.1
10.8
8.8
15.9
3.5
18.5
- To a very
high degree
5
1.7
4.3
3.4
6.0
1.4
9.3
- Not sure
6
13.2
15.3
15.3
15.2
14.7
15.0
Reforms in social policy
lag behind economic
reforms
Crime poses the most
complex problems to
government