Ако харесвате нашата 
Reiterating our understanding of freedom, happiness and prosperity of the human person, of the need of humane industrial and social relations, being aware of the link between market economy and these relationships, and their importance for its functioning, we declare that The LEADER Party will develop and participate in the implementation of the following policies:
The labour market
Bulgaria needs new, modern, quality- and productivity-tested criteria for assessing the value of labour. This must be the responsibility of all employers and owners.
The country needs a new national information system on the state of the labour market and linking education, especially the secondary vocational and higher education systems, with the dynamics of job availability.
The labour market is impossible without constant retraining of the workforce. State retraining funds must be made available to employers, who will be held responsible for the proper and efficient utilization of resources.
The labour market requires the elaboration of job marketing measures.
In our view, the issues of the labour market also include working hours and overtime pay, as well as hidden unemployment.
It is that hidden unemployment that constitutes one of the factors of low labour productivity.
We favour creating new jobs based on effectiveness.
Relations with the trade unions
The effectiveness of the present-day economy hinges on the effective interaction between the trade unions and employer associations, on dialogue between employees and employers.
The management of private property must take into account the organized interests of labour.
The state-sponsored trade unions of the transition period must give way to genuine trade unions, which have emerged and evolved on the basis of pertinent labour interests in each workplace.
Such trade unions should consistently promote tripartite cooperation, whose institutions defend the interests of workers while pursuing active dialogue with employers.
Trade unions should resume their concern about working conditions, the provision of social security on employees’ actual income, protection against unemployment and workers’ health care.
Emigration
The dynamics of present-day life is linked with mobility of the residence and the workplace.
The highly skilled personnel working abroad have not left their homeland for good. They must be offered sustained opportunities to return at any time and seek employment in Bulgaria, or work with Bulgarian entities. Our vocational schools and universities should strengthen ties with their alumni, allowing them to feel the constant support of the homeland and of the Bulgarian educational institutions.
While new jobs are being created in Bulgaria, there is often a shortage of adequately trained personnel to fill them. Along with that, many people are still convinced that there is no suitable work for them back home, which alienates them from the national community. It is necessary to formulate a new government policy towards Bulgarians resident abroad, in order to win them back to the national cause.
Emigration is a worrisome fact not just in respect of expatriates; too many people also live in ‘internal exile’, plagued by a lack of opportunity for social realization and decent life in Bulgaria.
We believe that the issue of emigration can only be addressed by creating proper living conditions and an effective health care and education system. This is the duty of the State to its professional work-force.
Immigration
As a EU member, Bulgaria becomes attracts more and more people as a destination for residence and social realization. The issues of immigration should be viewed and addressed in the context of the problems of the labour market.
The Bulgarian nation today has the chance to attract back the Bulgarians of the wider diaspora. Those who wish and are able to seek realization in Bulgaria should be provided with conditions for living, education and vocational training.
Bulgaria needs a national vision and government strategy for the treatment of those who have chosen it as the place for their professional and personal realization.
Youth realization
Providing favourable conditions for work and professional realization of young people should become a priority of the law-making policy.
Proper conditions for work and realization of youth are a major element of the living conditions of young people. Such measures should provide opportunities for finding work, for starting a family and rearing children.
Legislation is in debt to the policy on children of Bulgaria, who must be provided for by their parents or by the State in accordance with modern standards.
The young, ambitious, qualified, enterprising people of Bulgaria should be motivated to seek realization in their homeland. What can really keep them from emigrating is the existence of conditions for professional realization, career growth, upgrading their professional qualification, and proper remuneration for their work.
Institutions are bound to devote special attention to the promotion of youth culture, sports and civil initiatives. Youth policy must be placed on a high institutional level.
Pension policy
The State pension policy should rest on the principles of solidarity and personal contribution.
There are three main pillars of the pension system: the State, the compulsory supplementary and the voluntary supplementary retirement insurance. Retirement insurance must be improved by pegging to macroeconomic indicators.
Compulsory supplementary retirement insurance should be implemented on a fully funded principle. The point is that the second lifelong pension, granted by this pillar, should gradually level off with and exceed the amount of the State pension.
We attach exceptional importance to supplementary voluntary retirement insurance. We believe that any employer can provide such retirement insurance for their employees.
Health care
The underlying principle of our health policy is ‘health in every policy’. Modern health care is more than a sectoral policy; it is integrated in all sectoral policies, because health is a basic human value.
Bulgarian health care should represent an interlinked system of constant, lifelong care for the health of Bulgarian citizens, without discrimination on the basis of social status or age.
It is high time for the State, municipalities and private entities to demonstrate their ability to interact in the field of health care.
We favour:
• developing a long-term strategy of modern health care;
• setting up a system for separate management of the administrative, economic and medical functions;
• setting up a system for upgrading the qualification and competitiveness of medical professionals at all levels within the health care system;
• creating a new system of performance assessment of medical professionals based upon their qualification, experience, seniority and place of work; as well as of the quality of health establishments and care, on the basis of quality of service, cost and financial results;
• transparent financing and cash flow control;
• improving the health insurance system by placing it on a competitive basis;
• retaining the principle of solidarity in the compulsory health insurance system, by ensuring that a guaranteed mandatory minimum package of services is provided for the entire population. The participation of the State in the funding of public health establishments is a guarantee of accessible and high-quality health care services;
• an alternative system of supplementary voluntary health insurance, making it possible to choose health establishments and high-quality services;
• high-tech health care facilities;
• improving the interaction between the emergency medical care units and the rest of the health care system;
• accessibility and high effectiveness of pre-hospital care;
• improving the interaction between primary and specialized pre-hospital care and creating an integrated, unified information system to trace the course of treatment of each individual patient;
• reducing the number of hospitals by a change of ownership and promoting effective public-private partnership;
• revising the codes of ethics and making them a binding upon the decision-making process of the ethical commissions.
Special attention should be given to the dental care system.
A key priority in this respect is to set up an effective system of interaction with the health insurance system.
It is necessary to restore preventive dental care in schools and kindergartens.
The traditions in the field of prevention, diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation of occupational diseases and occupational medicine in general should be revived. Social medicine should become an integral part of the health care system.
Special attention should be given to child health care by introducing unified performance standards for medical practitioners at kindergartens and schools. It is necessary to create a nation-wide system for monitoring the physical development of children, and to introduce health education in primary school.
We will place an emphasis on disease prevention and a healthy lifestyle, on the streamlining and more effective use of the rehabilitation, hydrotherapy and health resort systems.
Social inclusion of people with disabilities
The provision of equal opportunities to people with disabilities must become a genuine political commitment.
The competent authorities should continue and accelerate implementation of the policy of addressing the issues through a quantitative build-up: providing access ramps to public buildings, specially adapted public transport vehicles, suitable modifications to sidewalks and underpasses to enable wheelchair access, and enforcing the requirement of non-discrimination of job applicants on the basis of disability.
There is also a need of conscious efforts on the part of everyone for bringing about a qualitative change in the attitude towards people with disabilities, and for jointly building an environment that would enable them to develop their potential and abilities.
Development of sports
In modern society, sport is an investment in people’s health. Sport is a universal means of increasing the capacity for work, and of the physical and moral upbringing of the individual. Sport is also a means to prevent drug abuse and the illnesses of the information society.
The main goals of our policy for the development of sports are:
• Providing suitable conditions for popular involvement in sports for all ages;
• Creating an environment to practise daily sports activities in urban conditions;
• Allocating a substantial place for sports and physical education in the educational system, from primary school all the way up to higher education;
• Providing a legislative framework for committing Bulgarian business to sports, by offering incentives for involvement in the construction and maintenance of sports facilities;
• Establishment and consolidation of the world standing of Bulgarian national sports.
Education and science
The education system is a tool of social change. This fact has been clearly realized and used back during the Bulgarian National Revival period, and even before that. It is time for us today to decide our own future, and the future of our children, by assuming our responsibility for their education.
Taking into account the European strategies and practices, we propose an education policy built on the following key principles:
Universally accessible and free education
The principle of free education in State schools assures equal access to education. Genuine guarantees of equal access are further provided through the distribution of free textbooks for the compulsory education course.
Freedom of education
In Bulgaria, the State ensures the equal treatment of State and private education by formulating universally binding criteria for the different forms of education. Private schools may receive state aid subject to strict contractual arrangements with government institutions.
Compulsory education
We support the principle of compulsory secondary education for children aged between 7 and 16. This principle must be codified in law as both a right and an obligation of the parents.
Child-protection and child-care legislation must be improved by including clear commitments of the State and the parents with respect to preschool-age children.
Secular and ideologically neutral education
The compulsory education provided by the State must be secular and ideologically neutral. It should remain unaffected by the religious affiliation of parents, and should offer teaching that is religiously and ideologically neutral.
Bulgarian schools must not teach religious subjects or allow religious elements to be delivered as part of the school curriculum. Religious education is possible on an extra-curricular basis, subject to rules laid down by the State.
Proceeding from the above principles, the LEADER Party proposes an education policy containing the following compulsory elements:
• in-depth knowledge and command of the Bulgarian language;
• knowledge and use of at least one modern foreign language;
• knowledge of the basic principles of mathematics and familiarity with basic sciences and technologies;
• use of basic modern communication technologies: computer and Internet literacy;
• familiarity with the civil and social principles of social cohabitation;
• Provision of conditions for independence, enterprise and development of creative skills.
These general conditions for the education system are valid for all generations and are part of the lifelong learning framework.
They are an element of the adaptation of Bulgarian society to the dynamic conditions of globalization.
A system of assessment of the acquired mandatory skills must be developed by the State educational institutions and be valid for every school throughout the country.
The role of the State in education:
• determines the policies, adopts the curricula and the teaching content of subjects at the phase of compulsory education;
• defines and coordinates the diplomas, academic degrees and titles in accordance with European standards;
• implements the personnel policy at the phase of compulsory education;
• provides the necessary resources and allocates them in accordance with the law;
• organizes the geographic distribution of teaching staff among schools in accordance with a long-term demographic and regional strategy;
• adopts measures for the prevention of violence in schools and specialized child care institutions;
• controls and assesses school curricula for the purpose of ensuring continuity between educational degrees;
• promotes public-private partnerships and the setting up of school boards of trustees.
The State lays down the rules and delegates competences between the central, regional and municipal institutions in the field of education.
The following functions should be included in the competences of municipal councils and mayoralties:
• construction and maintenance of school buildings;
• construction and maintenance of sports facilities, organization of cultural activities and extracurricular activities;
• delivery of vocational and technical training for all ages;
• arrangement of school transportation; traffic control and the transport infrastructure in the vicinity of schools;
• employment of school support staff to provide affordable meals and organize daytime activities for schoolchildren;
• ensuring conditions for equal treatment of schools, including institutions for children deprived of parental care.
Special attention should be given to personnel training for the needs of the education system. Universities should offer and deliver two-year teacher specialization courses in the different subjects taught at school.
The social status of Bulgarian teachers should correspond to the lofty place and great social significance of the teaching profession. Teachers should be provided with appropriate financial compensation and moral support for their work. The term ‘teacher’ should reflect the role of those who impart knowledge and bring up children in the spirit of the best traditions and modern practices.
Basic, secondary and higher education in Bulgaria should be brought into conformity with the education systems of the advanced countries, so that Bulgarian education could be internationally convertible and adaptive.
The LEADER Party sets itself the objective to involve parents in the educational process, as a major factor of achieving the goals of education.
We appeal to the parents, convinced that their involvement with the issues of children and education is a sound guarantee of the future of the entire society. It is the parents that are responsible for providing normal living conditions for their children: food, sleep, sports; protection against health-hazardous games and activities; life without drugs. Parents are ultimately responsible for bringing up self-reliant and responsible citizens.
The education system must ensure a constant link with parents, timely flow of information and proper interaction with teachers through meetings, extra-curricular activities and common initiatives. It is necessary to enhance the role of school boards of trustees to enlist parents in bringing up their children jointly with the school.
University education and science
Bulgaria’s universities should educate and ensure the proper qualifications of their graduates for employment in all sectors of the economy and public life in Bulgaria and the European Union. The convertibility criteria applied to higher education should form the basis for the competitiveness of our education system.
University education should be governed on a national level.
As educational centres, the universities enjoy autonomy, they are controlled through the State accreditation system and the standardization of academic profiles, degrees and titles under unified criteria.
State and private universities operate in accordance with standardized common requirements, with different sources of financing. Higher education can be State-run and free, State-run and paid, or private.
Universities should be venues of innovation and scientific research. They should use various combinations of State, regional, European and private sources of funding. Separating ‘pure’ science from higher education reduces the effectiveness of both, distancing Bulgaria from the leading areas of scientific research. Therefore, universities should engage in scientific pursuits by operating research centres in institutions within the established higher schools.
It is necessary to provide an integral link between higher education and business.
We propose the establishment of a National Agency for Coordination of Scientific Research that would start a partnership between the private and public sectors in education, on the one hand, and industry and applied applied research, on the other. Such an agency would be different and separate from the institutions monitoring labour market requirements to the education system; it should focus on the development of fundamental and applied science.
The link between business and science must be ensured through the creation of a system of loans for higher education, to be provided by the business community. Such loans should be made available for scientific research, as well as in return to a commitment by students to engage in a given profession upon graduation.
Bulgarian legislation should encourage sponsorship of science and education through tax relief and preferences.
Culture
The main positive effect of the transition for the cultural sphere in Bulgaria is the freedom of creative expression and the increasing democratization in the production and consumption of cultural values.
However:
• Present-day cultural policies are only efficient if they operate in full synchronization with present-day educational, communication and media policies.
• Present-day cultural policies are only efficient if they accord equal treatment to universal values, the values of the national cultural heritage, of regional cultures and human everyday life.
• Present-day cultural policies are only efficient if they reaffirm tolerance of cultural diversity. This would enable the citizens of Bulgaria to participate in social networks in a meaningful and rewarding manner. Cultural and personal differences are a source of well-being.
• Present-day cultural policies are only efficient if they stem from the spiritual needs and interests of the local communities.
The LEADER Party will focus its efforts on:
• Assertion of the Bulgarian and European cultural identity of all Bulgarian citizens;
• Assertion of the Bulgarian cultural tradition as a filter through which the nation can fully absorb the ideas, images and symbols of globalization and the worldwide information network;
• Formulation of new priorities for cultural management, marketing and advertising. This would require an active dialogue between the captains of the economy, the people of the spirit, the creative industries and the non-governmental sector. Only high-quality legislation in the cultural sphere is capable of safeguarding the autonomy of Bulgaria’s cultural output, including through the as-yet-unrealized opportunities of public-private partnership.
As a potential partner in its current policy making, the LEADER Party identifies, above all, young people at a local level involved in contemporary art and intellectual pursuits within a national, European and global context. In this way, the LEADER Party will aspire to neutralize conservatism and populism in the field of culture.
The church and religious communities
The Bulgarian people are tolerant to atheism, as well as to the various religious denominations that exist in the country. Such tolerance is part of Bulgarians’ spiritual freedom.
Historically, Christianity has played an important role for the development and preservation of our national community. We treat with respect the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, which, over the centuries, has been not just a religious institution but also a major social and political factor. From a cultural and historical perspective, the Church has kept the nation united through its prescriptions of morality and virtue, and with its commitment to common national causes.
The Church is separated from the State. It should perform its functions outside the secular institutions.
The Christian Church, as well as all other religious denominations in Bulgaria, should contribute to promoting a spirit of tolerance and cohesion within Bulgarian society.
Proselytizing religious cults, which are banned in the advanced European countries, should ultimately be outlawed in Bulgaria as well.