site.btaVazrazhdane Submits Draft Resolution to Freeze Sale of 4,400 State Properties

Vazrazhdane has submitted a draft resolution to freeze the sale of 4,400 state-owned properties due to the lack of a clear guarantee that the proceeds will be used for social infrastructure, Vazrazhdane MP Kliment Shopov said on Friday. 

Shopov noted that Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov had announced the creation of a fund for the construction of state facilities using state properties proceeds, but such provisions are not present in the bill. “We suspect that the revenue will be used for current expenditures, as the state budget deficit is growing by the day,” Shopov said, arguing that the government is selling state assets to cover the budget gap.

He added that Vazrazhdane sees a contradiction in the fact that numerous Defence Ministry properties are being sold while the cabinet declares increased defence spending.

Vazrazhdane MP Petar Petrov said that the only goal of those in power is for lucrative state properties to land in the right hands, at the right price, in exchange for the right commissions.

Earlier on Friday, the parliamentary Committee on Constitutional and Legal Affairs voted to draft a unified bill, based on two bills passed at first reading on July 24: one amending the State Property Act tabled by GERB-UDF MP Nikolay Nankov and a group of MPs, and another tabled by the Council of Ministers.