PM Denkov assigned a probe into inherited crises from caretaker governments

Prime Minister, Acad. Nikolai Denkov, instructed the control and investigative bodies of the executive power to check how the multiple crises bequeathed by the caretaker cabinets came about.

"If violations are found, the Prosecutor's office will be contacted," the Prime Minister said at a press conference on August 3.

Many ministries have faced problems, created or neglected over the past almost one year and these problems have led to serious losses of funds or risks of such losses. An example of this is the nearly BGN 200 million lost from the Just Transition Fund due to delays with the Coal Territory Plans. Bulgaria has to submit the plans for Stara Zagora, Pernik and Kyustendil by the end of the year to avoid losing the bulk of the EU funding for a fair transition - over BGN 1.6 billion or 69% of all remaining funds under the Fund. There has been no progress on this issue in the past year.

The gas access contract concluded with the Turkish company Botas is also indicative in this respect. The caretaker government has not negotiated sufficient safeguard clauses and Bulgaria does not have access to the Turkish gas transmission network. At the same time, Botas will have full access to the Bulgarian gas market and gas transmission network, and will even be able to supply product to end customers, and may in practice displace Bulgaria’s public gas supplier, Bulgargaz, entirely. The Bulgarian state-owned company has to pay billions of BGN for the entire 13-year contract, even if it fails to negotiate LNG volumes. The price has not been set transparently, and at the moment it seems unfavourable, especially given that Bulgargaz is not entitled to any penalties.

On taking office, the ordinary government found the air ambulance project virtually frozen: a commercial company, Bulgaria Heli Med Services EAD, in liquidation; an unsigned contract for the lease of two helicopters with flight crews, which costs the state BGN 1 million a month, the price being paid regardless of whether the service is carried out or not; air rescue powers transferred to the State Air Operator, without it having the right of such activity.

The Prime Minister also pointed to a number of specific crises left by the caretaker government in the energy, transport, economic, financial and regional development sectors. Among them are the procedures for awarding current road repairs and maintenance for a total value of over BGN 4 billion, the risk of losing the shares of the Plovdiv Fair, the proposed draft budget for 2023 with a deficit of 6.4% of GDP, which does not provide for revenues of over BGN 3 billion.

The government is working hard to resolve all outstanding crises, the PM assured.

A budget with a 3% deficit has already been adopted, social payments have been maintained and upgraded, and the tax burden has not been increased. Moreover, in the past just less than 60 days, the new managements of the National Revenue Agency and the Customs Agency have managed to collect about BGN 2 billion more in revenue than the state has spent.

"We found the treasury with a deficit of 1.2 billion BGN. At the moment, there is a surplus of 500 million BGN. This shows that in fact these funds have always been there, the issue was to collect them from taxes," Finance Minister Assen Vassilev stressed.

Territorial plans for the coal regions are under development. Negotiations are underway to change the contract with Botas in order to level the playing field as much as possible for both parties, Energy Minister Rumen Radev explained.

"The good news for the emergency medical care system in Bulgaria is that we have unblocked the process," Transport and Communications Minister Georgi Gvozdeykov said. The process of liquidation of the commercial company for air emergency medical aid is underway, the six bases for positioning and maintenance of the helicopters have been identified - in Sofia, Plovdiv, Sliven, Targovishte, Dolna Mitropolia and Montana. "The bases have been chosen so that each helicopter will be able to help in the neighbourhood if necessary. This ensures the effective functioning of the system throughout the country," Minister Gvozdeykov added.

The old public procurement contracts for routine road repair and maintenance have been terminated. "Tomorrow we will announce new procedures based on the criterion of 'lowest price'," said Regional Development and Public Works Minister Andrei Tsekov.

A lawsuit has been filed and an application has been submitted to suspend the registration of the transfer of the Plovdiv Fair shares from Varna Municipality to Puldin Turinvest.

"We have found two different approaches to protect the national interest," Minister of Economy and Industry Bogdan Bogdanov said and assured that the state's shares are protected. He added that a clear programme for the future functioning of the Plovdiv Fair is to be elaborated.