President Radev Vetoes Changes to the Law Linked to the Special Administrator at 'Lukoil' Refinery in Burgas

Bulgarian President Rumen Radev has returned to Parliament for further debate provisions from the amendments to the Law on the Administrative Regulation of Economic Activities Related to Oil and Petroleum Products, adopted on 7 November.

The head of state argues that the legislative changes undermine the rule of law, contradict key European legal standards, and pose a significant risk to public finances.

President Radev recalled that the mechanism for appointing a “special commercial administrator” was introduced in 2023, with a number of safeguards designed to prevent potential abuse and arbitrariness. Similar measures, he noted, have been adopted in other European countries facing comparable situations, with the aim of minimising the risk of future financial claims against the state.

However, Radev warned that the amendments passed on 7 November remove these safeguards without justification. The revised law grants the special commercial manager unrestricted rights to dispose of shares and capital in the affected companies, to sell their assets, and exempts contracts concluded by the manager – as well as acts of state authorities under Chapter Four “a” of the law – from administrative and judicial oversight.

He further described as “unwarranted and dangerous” the expansion of the law’s scope, which would allow such managers to be appointed to an unlimited number of enterprises beyond the country’s critical infrastructure. Taken together, Radev said, the amendments amount in practice to the indirect nationalisation of private assets, creating the potential for their subsequent transfer to unspecified third parties.

“This opens the door wide to arbitrariness and abuse,” the President stated, warning that the changes violate fundamental constitutional principles such as the right to legal defence, judicial oversight of administrative acts, the inviolability of private property, free economic initiative, and the protection of investments – both domestic and foreign. The law, he added, also introduces provisions inconsistent with established international and European legal norms.

If lawmakers deem it necessary for enterprises managed by special commercial administrators to be nationalised under specific circumstances, Radev stressed, this should be done through explicitly defined legal grounds and mechanisms that protect the public interest.

The President concluded that the amendments erode the rule of law, damage Bulgaria’s international reputation, worsen the investment climate, and expose the state to the risk of substantial financial claims.

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