site.btaPrivatizing Passenger Transport Dooms Bulgarian Railways, MECh Leader Vasilev Argues

"The transfer of the Bulgarian State Railways' passenger transport operations to private operators marks the beginning of the end of Bulgarian railways," Morality, Unity, Honour (MECh) leader Radostin Vasilev said in National Assembly lobby on Friday.

"Under EU legislation Bulgaria, like all other EU Member States, is obliged to liberalize its passenger rail transport market," Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov said during Question Time in Parliament on Friday.

Vasilev said that Zhelyazkov left the debating chamber without answering a question from MECh on the issue. According to Vasilev, the Transport Ministry is planning to launch a privatization procedure for the Bulgarian State Railways (BDZ) passenger transport operation, including the transfer to private operators of state-owned locomotives, multiple-unit trains, carriages, staff, and infrastructure in exchange for a fraction of the ticket sale revenue.

The MECh leader dismissed the PM's arguments that the service operates at a loss and needs to be state subsidized and that Bulgaria is obliged to liberalize the sector due to the procurement of 12 multiple-unit trains on EU funding. "These developments are cause for great concern among citizens and BDZ employees," he said.