The industry is dissatisfied with the new COVID measures.
Protests by businesses affected by the anti-epidemic measures are growing. On the first day of the new restrictions, restaurateurs, employees in restaurants, but also people from other industries take to the streets of several cities in the country. And they will express their dissatisfaction under the general slogan “Freedom for Business”.
“We will express our dissatisfaction with the civil protest. The restaurants will not close after 11 pm. This is what the law gives us as a right, and this is what we will do “, explained Richard Alibegov.
“Ours, and all businesses, appeal and must be heard by the authorities. We understand the seriousness of the problem, we understand the health crisis that society is facing. We raised the issue of economic measures to accompany and precede health measures. So far, however, we have heard some promises, we have no real agreement. And business is something that requires predictability. The owners and staff are worried. We do not know what benefits there will be. The measures have transformed and become almost unusable. The uncertainty for the staff is extremely high – there is a great outflow of people “, added Atanas Dimitrov from the Association of Hoteliers and Restaurateurs.
“Our business suffered enough during the first waves of the pandemic. The state did everything to prevent us from getting any help. What is special about us is that the workers are not workers in labor relations. That is, any measures such as 60/40 and so on are not available to them. Even the SURE help of the European Commission was not available to us. Our business is directly related to the restaurant and hotel business, “said Krassimir Tsvetkov of the National Taxi Union.
“We are not a closed business, but we generate the most costs because we cannot get support. There is no one to transport, but the costs are going well, because no municipality has reduced the rates, and the state has not planned any measures. During the last lockdown we had an awful lot of losses, we predict that this will happen again “, thinks Magdalena Miltenova from the Confederation of Bus Carriers.
“Generally, we work on Fridays and Saturdays, but now all colleagues with nightclubs will work today, tomorrow because it has been proven that there is no problem in nightclubs. Apart from everything else, there is not a single penny provided for compensation, there are no measures “, commented the owner of the nightclub Evgeni Zumpalov.
In Ruse and Dobrich, protesters will block key intersections and boulevards, and while expressing their dissatisfaction, their restaurants will not welcome customers. They also revolted against the measures in Haskovo. And in the coming days, a larger protest is planned on the streets of Sofia.