The future of Bulgaria’s Lukoil refinery in Burgas, following US sanctions, once again divided Parliament on November 9. The We Continue the Change–Democratic Bulgaria (WCC–DB) alliance accused the government of using the appointment of a special administrator to serve “party and corporate interests,” while GERB countered that the opposition was “defending the Kremlin".
WCC–DB argued that the extended powers granted to the special administrator would allow the refinery to be sold to politically connected figures, without oversight.
Nikolay Denkov of We Continue the Change–Democratic Bulgaria said:
“Peevski has decided this is very important to him — he wants it immediately, gives the order, and they rush to execute it.”
He warned that the proposed changes would give the special administrator unrestricted control over the refinery’s assets:
“It explicitly states that his decisions will not be subject to judicial or administrative oversight. This is, quite literally, a suspension of the Constitution.”
Atanas Atanasov, chair of DSB (We Continue the Change–Democratic Bulgaria), commented:
“The state could potentially get involved in some way, to assist with the change of ownership, but anything beyond that is an extreme measure — it would be nationalisation.”
GERB accused PP–DB of defending Russian interests.
Kostadin Angelov, deputy chair of the National Assembly for GERB–SDS, said:
“The state has shown backbone. The role of the special administrator will be to secure supplies and guarantee that Bulgarians have fuel. All the opposition’s talk sounds pro-Kremlin, not pro-Bulgarian.”
Angelov did not rule out the possibility of the Bulgarian Energy Holding (BEH) buying the refinery’s assets.
Kostadin Angelov added:
“Lukoil will be valued on the open market. If it is sold at all, it will go to the highest bidder. The money will be deposited in a bank, and Bulgaria guarantees this. This has been discussed with both the US and the European Commission.”
He also urged the President not to veto the law:
“Let him veto it. I promise him that the veto will be overturned within hours and it will not prevent the National Assembly from protecting the interests of every Bulgarian.”
The state budget once again sparked conflict between the government and opposition. GERB argued that this is the only feasible budget, based on the legacy left by WCC–DB. WCC–DB countered that the majority is inflating expenditure by raising public sector salaries at the cost of higher taxes and social contributions for workers and businesses.
Denitsa Sacheva stated that dialogue with employers has been restored and expects them to return to negotiations as soon as next week. She blamed WCC–DB for the “legacy” they left behind:
“Currently, 67% of the budget is allocated to salaries and wages. This is directly related to laws that were forcibly pushed through by Asen Vasilev and the former WCC–DB group, including setting the minimum wage at 50% of the average. In itself, this increases all social payments,” said Sacheva of GERB.
Asen Vasilev disagreed:
“Complete incompetence. This is a lie. If they want, we can explain how this budget could be achieved with real revenues within the three percent limit, without burdening Bulgarian citizens and businesses with additional taxes and social contributions. We did not allow taxes to be raised in any of these years, and yet social spending developed significantly – simply because we stopped the money going to these ‘funds’,” said Vasilev, chair of “We Continue the Change” (a constituent party of the WCC–DB alliance).
According to the “Vazrazhdane” party, the government is delaying the budget because the revenue-expenditure balance does not add up:
“The paradox is complete – employers defend workers, while the unions defend the government, simply because the increase of social contributions by just over 10% is a unique destruction of everything we have in our social system so abruptly,” said Tzoncho Ganev, deputy chair of Vazrazhdane.
The government expects the state budget to go through the tripartite council, receive cabinet approval, and enter Parliament as soon as next week.
Чуй новините
Подкаст
