Mothers of children with disabilities and personal assistants went to parliament and called on Progressive Bulgaria (PB) MPs to withdraw the amendments to the Personal Assistance Act today. If they do not, there will be a protest, they warned.
Democratic Bulgaria (DB) invited them to the meeting. Opposition MPs came, along with Maya Manolova, a former ombudsman who now heads the Consumer Protection Commission. The mothers have also been invited to talks with finance minister Galab Donev today.
The mothers and assistants said they would not let the bill pass as it stands. They said there would be no dialogue until the amendments are fully withdrawn, and that promises of changes between the first and second readings do not satisfy them. They want social minister Natalia Efremova and prime minister Rumen Radev to explain how the bill came to be tabled, because the mothers say no one spoke to them. They called the changes "genocide" and asked Radev to say whether they are "the oligarchs of Bulgaria".
The mother of a seven-year-old child with autism asked who would agree to look after the child for €700. Another mother said a personal assistant in Sofia costs, for example, between €10 and €15 an hour. A third said the budget has had no money for personal assistants for seven or eight years, and the rate will fall every year, step by step and legally, until personal assistance is destroyed.
The mothers say the new version gives them nothing, not even freedom, and leaves them in the same position but without security. Another mother said that ending the employment contract "buries" the assistant who helps her care for her daughter, and leaves her facing a physical and mental breakdown.
Ivan Angelov of PB, a deputy speaker of parliament, said the texts had been discussed with everyone concerned and that the process was turning hysterical.
MP Elisaveta Belobradova replied that this was a lie and that Angelov owes an apology, including for his words about hysteria. She said the whole opposition agrees the bill must be withdrawn. MPs tabled it at five in the afternoon, "in the dark" and with no public discussion, and it contains not one positive thing, she said. "We cannot patch up a budget by cutting the money of personal assistants for the most vulnerable people," she said. The mothers fear that if the contract changes from an employment contract to a special one, they will lose social assistance and benefits such as pension service credit and sick leave. If Donev needs money, he should carry out reforms rather than go after people with disabilities to fill the budget, Belobradova said.
Anna Bodakova of DB said more than €200m will be taken from the assistants to fill the budget. The opposition says their pay will fall because they will not get the bonus for length of service. She called the changes a brutal attack on labour rights. The governing majority says the hourly rate will be frozen at the 2026 level.
PB MP Ivan Yanev told reporters that the social package is secure and no one will lose social benefits, despite the state's excessive deficit. He said the monthly benefit for children with the most severe disabilities will rise from €603 to €704, and all mothers will stay their children's assistants and be able to take extra work.
Manolova called the bill ill-considered and said it takes away rights. "The current law was won through many protests and will not be allowed to be changed lightly," she said. She said the system needs changes because of people who abuse it, but employment contracts and hourly rates should not be touched. This time the majority will not pass whatever it wants, Manolova added. She called on MPs to withdraw the proposals and on both sides to sit down together. She said she spent seven months on the street with the mothers.
Those at the meeting proposed putting the parents' demands into a document for everyone present to sign, and urged Manolova to sign it too. She refused, saying it was not needed because she wrote the current law. Asked by Belobradova why she had not requested a meeting with Donev herself, she replied that she had not come to play politics. The opposition MPs promised to back the parents in their fight to keep their labour rights.
Earlier today in Dublin, Radev said that proposals will be made to give the mothers more freedom to choose how to arrange their employment relations with the state.
Follow-up: Progressive Bulgaria to withdraw changes to Personal Assistance Law after meeting with Donev