/ world today news/ “For me, progressive policies mean building, building. Building the education of the future, the infrastructure of the future, the energy systems of the future. Let’s guarantee productions and industries with stable, well-paid jobs – of the future.” This was stated by the Deputy Prime Minister for the management of European funds, Atanas Pekanov, at the “Forum for Progressive Left Solutions”, organized by the Delegation of Bulgarian Socialists in the Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and the democrats in the EP.
According to him, the first will be guaranteed through the Recovery and Sustainability Plan, and the second – with the new industrial policy. “Industrial policy, after being debunked for many years as a harmful interference in market and global processes, has made a comeback in the last year and I think it is at the top of decision-making. Progressive policies help to more fairly distribute the benefits of economic integration, of economic growth, to build new industries of the future,” commented Pekanov. He added that competition and trade rules alone are not something that will convince people of the benefits of the European Union. “No, people want things they can understand, feel, that guarantee their well-being. We can do it, we must do it and we will do it,” concluded Atanas Pekanov.
Agriculture Minister Yavor Gechev commented on the topic of high food prices and stated that with a 100% markup, we cannot talk about the absence of specula. “Legislative measures are needed to guarantee people’s informed choice, even at the cost of a slightly greater administrative burden,” he noted. And he added that there are draft laws that will soon see the light of day, regardless of what happens with the cabinet. “I wish that such anomalies do not continue and that we do not talk about it every time, in every crisis”, Yavor Gechev said in conclusion regarding the distortion of the food market in the country.
“For me, the left is ahead of its time,” he shared MEP from the Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats Tsvetelina Penkova. And he proposed some of the solutions: “Reform of the electricity market – the separation of electricity pricing from the price of natural gas, it will reduce prices, and hence inflation will calm down.” To use one’s own resources to a greater extent and, above all, to reduce one’s dependencies. Tsvetelina Penkova emphasized the Legislative Act for Zero Net Emission Industry, which she is working on, because the regulation aims to create a simpler legal framework for zero net emission industries and stimulate the production of components for them in the EU. She also highlighted the main goal – to have more investment in the production of clean energy technologies, so as to encourage European industry to create new jobs. The MEP did not miss the development of renewable sources and nuclear energy as part of the Green transition and reminded the consistent position of the BSP in this direction. “At the moment we are looking for growth – reforms and investments are needed. There must be a real policy,” said Penkova. She believes that there are a lot of financial resources in Europe that are not invested in people and industry.
“We are debtors in terms of collective bargaining. Where there is one, wages are 12 percent higher. The left decisions must also ensure the freedom of association.” That said the president of KNSB Plamen Dimitrov on the forum. According to him, it is important to have a legislative framework and to make the violation of the right to trade union a crime. He also noted the need for fairness in taxation. According to Dimitrov, direct taxes should be fairer, indirect taxes should be reduced, and direct taxes should be increased, but for corporations. The president of KNSB also noted the need for more fairness in the labor market.
“Artificial intelligence is a topic that should be approached with a healthy skepticism. It is no coincidence that the people most dedicated to this topic, leading scientists and entrepreneurs, have become frightened and come out with such appeals. Unfortunately, the industry is absolutely always ahead of the legislation.” That said the MEP from the Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in EP Ivo Hristov. He believes that in the battle for the framing of artificial intelligence, awareness of the problem by citizens and their active pressure will be very important, since it is very easy for a legislative body to be breached. “The industry has unlimited resources – media, financial, everything. It promises growth, we are still in the neoliberal logic: growth is the absolute good. There is an opportunity for a new driving force in the economy in the coming years,” noted Hristov and added:
“If we still sometimes manage to fool the artificial intelligence with our questions and laugh at it on social networks, very soon, probably in a matter of months, it will be able to laugh at us. In that sense, a healthy skepticism about artificial intelligence.”
“40 years of neoliberal capitalism has brought us to the point where the left is now, at best, talking about welfare. There is nothing left about this, it was invented by the right, that is, we are fighting them on their turf. Or at best, if they dare, they talk about tax policy – progressive – and redistribution, although in itself it is a tool,” commented financier Konstantin Prodanov. He clarified that if changing the tax system does not reduce inequalities, it is not in itself a left-wing tool: “In the end you will take the money from those who can afford it, but if you then direct that money back to the financial sector or business as per capita subsidies, you have not solved the problem of inequalities.’
“Whatever progressive left policies we propose, we should only think about whether they will solve or stop the demographic crisis. It has not yet turned into a disaster at this stage. That is, the process is reversible and nothing is fatal.” That said the chairman of the Strategic Institute for National Policies and Ideas Kaloyan Pargov. He believes that dealing with the demographic crisis is the result of a purposeful, systematic and strategic policy that starts today and is the result of continuity. According to him, both the research done by the Institute – all progressive policies – and those proposed by the PES and Europe should be related to getting out of this demographic quagmire.
To contact the Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the EP:
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