site.btaVazrazhdane Move for Declaring Lukoil-Related Legislation Anti-Constitutional

The nationalist party Vazrazhdane announced Friday that they are submitting an application to the Constitutional Court challenging the constitutionality of recently adopted legislation that gave broad powers to a special commercial administrator for the Bulgarian assets of Lukoil. Party leader Kostadin Kostadinov told reporters in Parliament that they had already secured the required number of signatures to lodge the challenge.

According to him, the contested provisions aim to enable the Bulgarian state—through GERB and MRF - New Beginning—to "seize private property". "Such actions violate the Constitution and the fundamental right to inviolable private ownership," he said.

In addition to all Vazrazhdane MPs, the entire parliamentary group of MECh and several deputies from Velichie - 51 lawmakers in total - signed the application to the Constitutional Court. 

Last week, Vazrazhdane invited other parliamentary groups that did not support the bill to join the initiative. On 7 November, MPs adopted legislation broadening the powers of the special commercial administrator overseeing the Bulgarian assets of Lukoil. The bill was introduced by deputies from MRF–New Beginning, GERB–UDF, and There Is Such a People, and BSP–United Left. 

In Bulgaria, Lukoil owns Lukoil Neftochim Burgas, the largest oil refinery in the Balkans, through its Swiss-registered subsidiary LITASCO, which holds a 89.97% stake in the facility. Another 9.88% of the refinery belong to another Lukoil affiliate, Lukoil Oil Company. The remaining 0.15% of the capital is distributed among over 7,700 individual and corporate shareholders.

On 14 November, the Council of Ministers appointed Rumen Spetsov, until then head of the National Revenue Agency - as special commercial administrator of Lukoil’s four Bulgarian companies.

Kostadinov warned that if the law is enforced in full, it could result in "huge damage" to the Bulgarian state, predicting that Lukoil would file lawsuits seeking billions of leva in compensation. He expressed hope that the Constitutional Court would rule quickly, arguing that "every day without a decision will cost us billions."

He also criticized what he described as selective speed in the Court’s previous rulings, claiming that it acts faster on cases that cater to the interests of the governing majority while dragging its feet about others.