Bulgarian Industrial Capital Association (BICA)

The Association of Industrial Capital in Bulgaria (BICA) took over the rotating presidency of the Association of Bulgarian Employers' Organizations (AOBE) for 2025 from the Confederation of Employers and Industrialists in Bulgaria (CEIBG) on January 6, 2025. In accordance with the established rotation, the parliamentary secretary of CEIBG Rumyana Georgieva, authorized for this purpose by the chairman of CEIBG Kiril Domuschiev, handed over the presidency of AOBE for 2025 to the chairman of BICA Vasil Velev.
The chairman of BIA Dobri Mitrev and the chairman of BCCI Tsvetan Simeonov also participated in the first meeting of AOBE for the year, as well as representatives of the management and experts from BICA, BIA, BCCI and CEIBG.
The chairmanship of AOBE by CEIBG in 2024 was considered very successful in terms of achieving the first of the AOBE priorities - Bulgaria's full membership in Schengen, as well as in terms of the challenges facing business, caused by the two early parliamentary elections and the socio-economic instability. The rotating presidency also coincided with the process of counting the national representative employers' organizations, which created additional responsibilities for AOBE. Despite the challenges, a number of important domestic and international meetings were held and dozens of common positions, declarations and opinions were adopted.
In 2024, the AOBE's activities took place in the context of the priorities adopted by the association, namely: Bulgaria's full membership in Schengen, the Eurozone and the OECD, improving the business environment and economy, energy and "green transition", education and labor market, social policy. During the reporting period, the AOBE has developed and presented to the relevant competent institutions 55 positions in defense of business interests, focused mainly on measures in support of business, the representation of the AOBE in various state and international bodies and on issues in the energy and financial sphere. Over 20 meetings were held with representatives of the caretaker governments and in parliamentary committees on relevant issues. Regarding the extreme prices of electricity and a request for the restoration of the mechanism for compensating electricity prices for non-household consumers, a number of positions and letters of the AOBE were sent to the Chairman of the National Assembly, the Prime Minister, the Ministers of Energy and Finance, etc. On financial issues, the positions of the AOBE mainly concern Bulgaria's accession to the Eurozone, as well as positions on legislation in the field. Internationally, the participation of AOBE representatives in the General Assembly of the International Organization of Employers, in the 112th session of the International Labor Conference in Geneva, in the General Assembly of the OECD Business Council and in the annual consultation with the OECD Secretary-General, held in Paris, was of great importance. This was reported by CEIBG, the current rotating chairman of AOBE.
The participants in the meeting discussed the guidelines and priorities of the organization for the current year, which, after coordination and approval by the members, will be officially presented at the traditional AOBE press conference, which will be held on January 20, 2025 at 11:00 a.m. in the BTA press club.
The preparation for a National protest against the uncompetitive price of electricity for enterprises was also discussed, as the members of the AOBE united in demanding an immediate decision by the authorities to continue compensating for the excessively high prices of electricity throughout the calendar year 2025, otherwise they will join the unions in a national protest.
AOBE unites the nationally representative employer organizations BICA, BIA, BCCI and CEIBG. The main goal of the organization is to consolidate, balance and represent the interests of its members. Enterprises that are members of AOBE produce 86% of the country's gross added value and employ 82% of all employees in our country.