National Assembly passes amendments to the Employment Encouragement Act comprising measures to overcome youth unemployment

The amendments foresee ensuring first jobs for young unemployed people up to 29 years old, who are finishing secondary or higher education. The changes were voted on 26 July 2013. According to the amendments employers who open jobs for young people in this category will receive state subsidies for a period of 6 to 18 months to cover some of the expenses – 30% for the first 6 months, 50% for the next 6 months and 75% for the last 6 months. The changes in the Employment Encouragement Act regulate the provision of scholarships to young people taking part in motivational courses.

These measures could cover as many as 71 000 young people, aged up to 29 years, registered in the employment offices. The measures envisage 3 basic groups of the unemployed – the first for those who appear on the labor market for the first time, the second for the ones  registered as unemployed for a long period of time and the third group - for young people lacking qualifications and education.

The National Assembly has adopted on second reading amendments to the Additional Oversight of Financial Conglomerates Act. The changes introduce the regulations adopted by several EU directives giving more power for oversight of insurance and bank groups including those which are part of financial holdings and such with mixed subject of business.

The financial conglomerates, subject to the oversight are obliged to provide once a year to the Bulgarian National Bank and to the Financial Control Commission information about  their legal, managerial and organizational structure, including about their daughter companies and big subsidiaries.