site.btaSocialists Oppose Public Procurement Procedure for Construction of Refugee Centres

107 POLITICS - SOCIALISTS - NEWS CONFERENCE

Socialists Oppose
Public Procurement Procedure for
Construction of Refugee Centres


Sofia, March 24 (BTA) - The Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) demands the cancellation of a recently launched public procurement procedure for the construction of refugee centres in the southwestern towns of Lyubimets, Elhovo and Malko Turnovo, BSP Spokesperson Elena Yoncheva told a news conference at the party's headquarters on Sunday. The procedure is for the construction of sites where residential containers can be placed, she specified.

In her words, sites are being prepared for the housing of 1,632 refugees in Lyubimets alone.

The Socialists asked the powerholders whether information is being kept from the Bulgarian public about a return of migrants from Western Europe, particularly Germany, to Bulgaria.

BSP for Bulgaria Secretary Kristian Vigenin said that the parliamentary group does not accept the construction of such refugee centres without there being a need for them. According to him, it is unnecessary to implement such project at a time when the migration pressure on the Bulgarian border with Turkey is nearly zero and the analyses show low probability of a new refugee wave in the future.

Vigenin suggested that one of the reasons for the refugee centres' construction is the absorption of resources granted by the European Commission and yet another distribution of this money between firms close to the incumbent.

He asked the Government whether this public procurement is linked to the recent decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union that allows German courts to return immigrants to the Members States through which they entered the EU. The Socialists worry that the existence of such a capacity to accommodate refugees might additionally encourage the return of migrants. This goes against Bulgaria's national interest, Vigenin argued.

Approached for a comment on the apartment purchase scandal, Yoncheva said that the BSP demands not only the resignation but also the exit from Bulgarian politics of GERB Floor Leader Tsvetan Tsvetanov.

On Friday, the Counter-Corruption Commission and the Supreme Cassation Prosecution Office said they were launching probes against Justice Minister Tsetska Tsacheva and three other ranking GERB figures: GERB Party Deputy Leader and Floor Leader Tsvetan Tsvetanov, parliamentary Culture Committee Chairman Vezhdi Rashidov, and Deputy Sports Minister Vanya Koleva, all of whom have acquired underpriced luxury apartments in central Sofia from the same seller, Arteks Engineering. On Saturday, Tsacheva and Koleva resigned.

Yoncheva told the news conference that the problem lies not only in the purchase of apartments at below-market prices but also in the way lobbyist laws are being passed in Bulgaria. Several days ago, the Bulgarian Industrial Association said that 42 per cent of laws adopted by the National Assembly pass through Parliament's 'back door', she noted.

In her words, as a result of a lobbyist law tabled by GERB in January 2017, Arteks was allowed to build a 35-storey building instead of an 8-storey one. The Spacial Development Act was amended between first and second reading to allow Arteks to build in accordance with the old instead of the new legal requirements, she said.

"We are also left with the impression that Prime Minister Borissov is more concerned about the source of the attack with the apartments than the corruption in which GERB finds itself," Yoncheva also said. According to her, Borissov should also comment on the European Commission's report from February that says two-thirds of the alerts about corruption of Bulgarian politicians are not investigated.

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At an extraordinary briefing later on Sunday, Deputy Interior Minister Krassimir Tsipov said that refugee camps will not be built in Lyubimets, Elhovo, and Malko Turnovo. The Interior Ministry is about to conduct a procedure for the preparation of sites for temporary crisis centres on land owned by the Ministry outside of the settlements, he explained. The possible stay of refugees in these centres will be no longer than 72 hours, he specified. The crisis centres' construction is part of a plan adopted in 2016 in connection with increased migration pressure on the border with Turkey, Tsipov told the briefing.

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