The leader of the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions of Bulgaria (CITUB), Zhelyazko Hristov, has sent an open letter to Greece's president and labour minister calling for action after a Bulgarian union leader in Greece was injured in an acid attack.

Kostadinka Kouneva, leader of a union of cleaners and domestic servants, was attacked on December 23 by two assailants who splashed sulphuric acid in her face. The attack was allegedly a response to her union activities.

Bulgarian news agency BTA reported on December 26 2008 that the previous day Kouneva had been brought out of a medically induced coma in which she had been kept for several days at the intensive care unit of Athens' Evangelismos Hospital.  On December 27, Bulgaria's Foreign Ministry said that she was still in a critical condition.

Hristov's letter, released to the media on December 27, called on Greek president Karolos Papoulias and labour minister Fanni Palli-Petralia to ensure that the country's institutions carried out an effective investigation to identify and punish those guilty of the attack on Kouneva.

The attack was not just against Kouneva but also against workers and their established rights to protest against unacceptable working conditions, Hristov said.

He called on the Greek government to take an "appropriate decision" in 2009 on the close to 80 000 Bulgarians working in the grey economy in Greece, by liberalising the labour market.