Government seeks urgent solution to mosquito-control crisis

The Council of Ministers cancelled the last decision to transfer mosquito-control operations to the Bulgarian Food Safety Agency.

This was announced by Health Minister Katya Ivkova at a briefing following the cabinet meeting on May 13. According to her, the decision was taken due to identified legal and procedural obstacles surrounding the public procurement process, as well as concerns about potential circumvention of the law.

Minister Ivkova outlined the chronology of events, recalling that the Ministry of Health is the contracting authority for a public procurement procedure launched on 22 December 2025, aimed at mosquito population control. During the process, a complaint was filed, after which—during the caretaker government—the decision on the ranking of bidders was cancelled on 9 April.

Subsequently, proceedings were initiated before the Commission for Protection of Competition, further complicating the process.

“Last week, on 7 May, the caretaker government decided to transfer the budget for these pest-control activities to the Bulgarian Food Safety Agency, which was to carry out the operations,” Ivkova said.

However, following analysis by the new regular cabinet, the Ministry of Agriculture and Food concluded that the agency lacks the practical capacity to carry out such activities.

Following the formation of a regular government, colleagues from the Ministry of Agriculture and Food carried out a proper analysis of whether it would be practically feasible for the Bulgarian Food Safety Agency to carry out mosquito control operations. It was established that this was not possible, including on an expert level, with relevant information provided even prior to the decision being taken,” she explained.

A serious legal risk has also been identified – namely a potential circumvention of the Public Procurement Act due to ongoing proceedings before the Commission for Protection of Competition (CPC).

“Since there is an ongoing procedure before the CPC, the transfer of funds from the Ministry of Health to the Bulgarian Food Safety Agency creates a risk of bypassing public procurement legislation. For this reason, in order to ensure only lawful actions, the Council of Ministers today adopted a decision repealing the decision taken on 7 May last week,” Ivkova said.

She stressed that the situation remains critical from a public health perspective, as delays in mosquito control operations could pose risks to the population.

“At the moment, we are rapidly channelling lawful options so that there is no risk to public health,” the Health Minister said.

She added that the government will also seek a long-term solution to prevent the same annual issues with the implementation of mosquito control measures from recurring.

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Photos by Dessislava Kulelieva, BNT

Agriculture and Food Minister Plamen Abrovski also commented on the issue.

“Last week there was an attempt to cover up a time bomb, because at the Council of Ministers meeting, despite the opposition of the Bulgarian Food Safety Agency, the former Minister of Health, together with the former Minister of Agriculture, tried to pass on a hot potato that, I hope, we will soon be able to resolve. But it is important for people to know, when they are bitten by mosquitoes, who is responsible,” he said.