Everybody, including the media and owners of dwellings, is happy with the law, says Radu Popescu, counselor to the Administration and Interior Minister
Mr. Popescu, in our interview in June you said that you expect the government to approve the bill in two weeks time. It's evident that it took longer. What is the reason(s) for the delay?
Where stood the issues? And also will that hamper the law to be implemented according to the preliminary schedule – from the beginning of 2008?
- The reasons for the delay were
firstly in the local bureaucracy (which I suppose is the same in Bulgaria) and secondly because we had to wait for the approval of the Competition Council and Department for European Affairs. Of
course, because of the delay the start will not be in the beginning of 2008, but in the first half of 2008.
Media publications about the approval of the bill are not only positive. Ziarul Financiar for example quotes Catalin Stroe, sales manager of the insurance company Asirom, that some of the
envisaged in the bill procedures involve "excessive amount of red tape" and also high costs for insurance companies, as they have to conduct the mandatory policy sales through agents and brokers.
May I ask you for your comment on their fears?
- Of course there are different opinions among insurers and of course the law is not perfect. They claim about the bureaucracy of the
law, but this procedure in fact is a copy of their usual way of working. Anyway, almost all of the insurance companies will participate in the scheme.
May you elaborate more on the bill? Has your initial project much changed? What are the compromises you had to accept in order for the bill to be "passable"?
- There are no
changes in the content of the law but in the wording.
When do you expect the parliament to adopt the act?
- The draft was sent to the Parliament in an emergency procedure and we expect it to be passed within 1.5 month.
Is everything intact with the catastrophic pool? Is the funding ensured? Will the pool be ready to start operate in January? Any issues to be tackled?
- The funding of the
pool will be ensured by the Ministry of Finance, so this is not an issue.
As a conclusion, everybody, including the media and owners of dwellings, is happy with the law.
