2024-04-25 14:20:55
“I will not participate in an election campaign. I am an expert in social policy and I would like to remain unaffiliated. In the future, I can always be useful to any party that has gained the trust of the people and has a clear vision that the quality of life in Bulgaria should to be at the center of every policy.”
This is what former Minister of Labor and Social Policy Ivanka Shalapatova said in the program “This Morning”.
She shared that throughout her term she was categorically criticized for not having sufficient administrative experience.
“I heard these criticisms from a variety of quarters. For example, in the first publications on the occasion of my appointment, nowhere was the importance given to the fact that I have a scientific activity related to early childhood development. The fact that I have been in social work for nearly 30 years was not given importance system,” Shalapatova added.
According to her, the system in the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy is extremely dysfunctional.
“The system is not functioning. The structures are not working,” she explained.
“I met regularly with the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister, with the aim of feedback on and evaluation of what I am doing. In none of these meetings did I hear criticism in relation to the goals I was pursuing,” added Shalapatova.
“People’s quality of life is low. We have extremely high levels of child poverty. Huge numbers of children live in material deprivation. We have a serious investment of our taxes as citizens in benefits that are neither targeted nor based on a thorough assessment of individual needs to the people,” explained the former Minister of Labor and Social Policy.