At the end of the EU-Turkey summit in Brussels, the Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov stated that the politicians in Brussels are acknowledging Bulgaria as setting the standards for the protection of the Schengen border. He further stated that the negotiations were very difficult and time-consuming, but at the end the EU member states and Turkey reached a compromise that is considered the best option for the moment.
Bulgaria has required financial assistance, as the country is making serious efforts in demonstrating how the Schengen border should be protected. The politicians have stated that Bulgaria sets the standards for the protection of the Schengen border, as the Bulgarian Prime Minister remarked. At the same time the authorities in Bulgaria have warned that the country would block the EU-Turkey agreement unless its interests are taken into account.
The Prime Minister of Bulgaria has sent a letter to the European Council President stating that Sofia would block the agreement unless the protection of the Bulgarian borders, as well as those of Greece, was guaranteed. The negotiations with Turkey should cover the land and marine borders of Bulgaria with Turkey. Bulgaria is currently not a member of the Schengen area.
Bulgaria is а well-known destination for outsourcing services already. The country is known for its wide range of advantages that it offers to the local and the international investors. Prior to starting a business in the country, those investors need to decide about the type of business they will need to set up. According to the Bulgarian laws, citizens from abroad have the right to establish a business in the country in the form of sole proprietorship, a representative office, a partnership, a branch.
The team behind SofiaOffices company has been on the market for many years and is quite aware that the businesses in Bulgaria have diverse payroll needs. That is why the company started providing fast and accurate online payroll services to those clients that need them. Bulgaria has strong market potential and attracts the interest of many investors. Just like the rest of the European countries, it has however its own employment legislative subtleties. If wisely observed, these regulations ensure that your outsourced workforce in Bulgaria is nicely managed and paid accordingly. StaySofia has the capacity to provide employment and payroll outsourcing services on time, as well as business support.
In order the work to be done fluently, every business company is in need of administrative and payroll services. This is a boring job (yeah, we know) that brings no profit (but is associated with expenses instead). Yet, someone should do it, so it is always better to leave that task in our hands and focus on what you do best. Among the administrative services that we provide is the preparation of all documents associated with the start of the employment process of every employee, including the registration of the labor contracts in the National Revenue Agency, and all other documents that concern the change in the employment status, the retirement, the cash benefits and the social assistance documents. The maintenance of the employees’ records in perfect condition is also part of the task.
The payroll services that SofiaOffices cover include all important aspects that concern the payment of the employees in Bulgaria. These include the process of the variable monthly payroll information, calculation of the vacation days and sick leaves, changes in the wages, method of remuneration, working positions, calculation of the monthly gross and net wages, social and health insurances, income tax, etc.
Payroll Services in Bulgaria Milestones:
• Minimum wage – 210 EUR
• Employer’s taxes – 30.7%
• VAT – 20%
• PIT – 10%
• Annual paid vacation – at least 20 days
• Payroll currency – BGN, Euro, Dollar
• Overtime – Working overtime is principally not allowed by the Labour Code) with exceptions only under tight premise. The extent of overtime must not exceed 6 h (night work 4 h) per week, 30 h (night work 20 h) per month and 150 h per year. During two consecutive days no more than a total of 3 hours (night work 2) overtime are allowed. The premiums amount to minimum of: – 50% for work on regular working days; -75% for work on days of rest (Sundays); – 100% on statutory holidays.
The Bulgarian capital Sofia is experiencing a serious demand for office premises. In the period 2016 – 2017 will be completed several very tall office buildings. In 2015 was officially opened the tallest office building in the country – Capital Fort. With its 126 meters, the office giant went ahead Hotel Rodina with its 104 meters. Read the text below which will be the five tallest office buildings to be released in Sofia city in the next several months.
1. Capital Fort (126 m) located on Tsrigradsko Schousse Blvd., where are placed the offices of the companies Scale Focus and Apcom, Skrill and Visteon.
2. Itower (107 m) is positioned in the central part of the city near Macedonia Square. The investors come from Italy, Cyprus and Portugal. There are several projects for the architecture of the office skyscraper, however there is no official information about it yet.
3. Infinity Tower (90.5 m) – the office building is located on Bulgaria Blvd. and is adjacent to Bulgaria Mall. It is among the best office projects in 2014, featuring a glass façade and comfortable office premises of different size.
4. Millennium Center (85 m), perfectly located behind the National Palace of Culture, this business center is in the last stage of its completion. Two local banks will occupy more than 7400 sq.m of offices there – CIBank and DZI. The building is expected to be completed and officially open in June 2017.
5. City Tower (74 m) – this is the office center near Stamboliiski Blvd., that is to offer 39 000 sq.m of office premises. The business center is expected to be completed in 2017 and the investor is the Bulgarian representative of a Greek company.
During the meeting of the EU interior ministers in Amsterdam in late January, were discussed the plans for Greece to be sealed off the travel zone of Schengen. That temporary exclusion measure was offered by the Austrian Interior Minister Johanna Mikl-Leitner as a possible solution to the major migrant crisis.
In an interview for the German newspaper Die Welt, she said that if the Athens government does not do more to secure the external borders of the European Union, the temporary exclusion of Greece should be openly discussed. She further stated that the Schengen member state is not meeting the obligations. It seems that today, the protection of stability, security and order in Europe is not in the hands of Greece but in the hands of countries like Bulgaria which are not part of the Schengen Agreement.
The prognosis of the real estate brokers working in the sphere of office premises in Sofia are for a serious interest towards the already finished and operating office and retail properties. The priorities of the investors on Sofia office market are expected to shift their priorities and get offices that can start generating revenue immediately. The main demand is expected towards offices with central location in Sofia that come with long-term lease contracts. Due to the insufficient supply of office premises in Sofia, it is believed and expected for the office rental and purchase prices to rise. However, that will happen with a slow pace.
Year 2016 started with an enhanced search of Sofia office premises that are still in construction as well. The expectations are for the office rental levels to go up as the completed new offices for the entire year will be only 70 000 sq.m. Since more than 130 000 sq.m of office premises have been rented in the last two years in Sofia, the market is expected to face insufficient supply of quality properties suitable for the industry and business needs. The most significant new projects that will be released on the office market in Sofia in 2016 are only three – Blu Offices on “Brussels” Blvd., SPS Tower “Bulgaria” Blvd., and “Kambanite Green Offices” near the Ring route. The serious search of business areas will remain stable in 2016 and will be driven mainly by the expansion of the IT and the outsourcing sector.
In recent years, Bulgaria has become more recognizable outsourcing destination, however the insufficient number of offices in Sofia that are meeting the company’s requirements has driven many of them to other major regional cities of the country.
At the end of January, the EU ministers met in Amsterdam to discuss steps that will allow the reintroduction of the national border controls for a period of two years. This let many people question the future of the Schengen Agreement that has been allowing people to travel passport-free across 26 states.
The serious refugee crisis has challenged Europe to make a point as the Schengen Agreement is cracking under the strain of the migrants who are arriving from Africa and the Middle East. That is why temporary border checks can be extended under the Schengen Agreement for a period of two years. In order for that extension to happen, however, the leaders of the European Union should agree that the serious and constant deficiencies in the Schengen external borders control is put into danger.
Currently six Schengen members including Austria and Germany, Sweden and Denmark, France and the non-EU member Norway, were forced to resort to reinstating temporary border checks, that will operate in the passport-free area. It is expected these measures to be valid until May.
Great deal of the companies that are looking for office premises in Sofia are coming from the IT, outsourcing and financial sphere. These companies are in search of large offices above 1000 sq.m, situated in the big business centers of Sofia. The real estate experts comment however, that there is a serious demand now for smaller office premises with size between 200 and 400 sq.m. Such offices can be found in many areas of Sofia and are usually searched for by startup companies.
The tendency concerning the office premises in Sofia for the beginning of 2016 is for the large companies to relocate to larger office premises of more than 1000 – 1500 sq.m., thus disposing many smaller offices mainly positioned in Sofia city center. The rental levels of the offices in Sofia during the first quarter of 2016 remain unchanged – varying between 10-12 Euros / sq.m for the offices of class A and 12-14 Euros / sq.m for the very luxurious offices in the new office buildings. It is believed that the office market will remain active in the next 12 – 18 months.
At a briefing after the Border-2016 drill, the Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov stated that Bulgaria keeps its engagement towards Europe by properly protecting the external border of Schengen, even if not being officially part of the visa free travel zone in Europe. The Prime Minister of Bulgaria commented the situation in Drama.
Several weeks before that the EU Commissioner on Internal Affairs and Migration Dimitrus Avramopulous stated that the Schengen Zone and the free movement of people and goods should remain. The commissioner gave his opinion after a joint meeting between representatives from Germany, Sweden and Denmark in the headquarters of the European Committee. The meeting followed Sweden’s establishing of an obligatory check on the documents of all citizens coming from Denmark. On its side, Denmark will be checking the people coming from Germany.
According to the EU Commissioner on Internal Affairs and Migration Dimitrus Avramopulous, all participants at the meeting agreed that these border measures should be limited for the saving of the Schengen area spirit. Norway was the 10th country from the Schengen zone, which decided to bring the border control.
A new tendency in the office market is now to be traced in Sofia city. Along with the serious interest towards the offices larger than 1000 sq.m of usable space, many startup companies from all over Europe are now looking for smaller office premises in Sofia between 200 and 400 sq.m of area. The local companies that are further developing their services and production are also looking for new offices. Most of the companies on demand of office premises are coming from the financial and the IT sphere. There are also companies trading on the stock markets or working in the sphere of the high technologies and services.
Since the beginning of 2015 there is a greater supply of office premises thanks to the office projects that have been restarted in 2014. The new office projects in Sofia are offering larger office premises above 1000 and 1500 sq.m. The subsidiary companies that are looking to relocate under one roof have interest in these large office premises and they are to release the smaller offices they used to rent. It is expected that those smaller office will answer the needs of the startup companies. The rental levels remain in the levels of 10-12 Euro/sq.m. per month in the Sofia office premises of class A. However, in the most luxurious offices the rental prices go up to 13-14 Euro/sq.m. per month.
In an interview in front of the Bulgarian National Television in early January, the MEP with the Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (CEDB)/European People’s Party (EPP) Maria Gabriel stated that it would be naïve for all of us to think that the Schengen zone could be preserved the way it has been functioning so far.
She further stated that several months ago, Schengen was perceived as a zone with freedom of movement. Yet, the travel free Schengen is not only about freedom of movement. It is and has always been about security and control over the external borders. And it is exactly that dimension that has to be strengthened. Here comes the proposal for each person that is owning a Schengen passport to be systematically checked upon leaving and then upon returning to the territory of Europe. These concrete and adequate measures will allow us all to shift the pseudo-debate on Schengen to a serious debate on how to improve Schengen and preserve its spirit.
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