site.btaSocialist Leader Urges Parliament Newcomers to Halt Government Decision on Deferral of Sofia Airport Concession Royalty

Sofia, April 6 (BTA) - Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) leader
Kornelia Ninova urged the three newcomers in the Bulgarian
Parliament to rally efforts with her party and halt a decision
by the outgoing government to agree to a deferral in the payment
 of the concession royalty for Sofia Airport. The call to There
Is Such a People (TISP), Democratic Bulgaria (DB) and Rise Up!
Thugs Out! (RUTO), who are sure to have seats in the new
Bulgarian legislature after the April 4 general elections on
April 4, comes ahead of a meeting of the government of Boyko
Borissov on Wednesday. 

According to Ninova, the government is preparing to hold a
closed-door meeting to decide on the delayed concession payment
and to authorize the concession owner to increase air fares.

A 35-year concession agreement for Sofia Airport was signed on
July 22, 2020 with SOF Connect, a consortium including France's
Meridiam Eastern Europe Investments SAS and Austria's Strabag,
with Munich Airport as airport operator. The deadline for entry
into force of the concession is 12 months from the signing of
the contract and the exact date depends on the fulfillment of
conditions by both parties. Last February it transpired that in
October 2020 the concessionaire asked the government to agree to
 a deferral of the annual concession royalty due for the first
ten years of the concession while increasing the amount of
investment from 608 million to 624 million euro. Furthermore,
the concessionaire confirmed their commitment to pay in advance
a royalty of 660 million leva, VAT included, and to build
Terminal 3 by the tenth year of the concession term. The
government has already got a green light from the European
Commission for such an arrangement and appeared ready to sign an
 annex to the concession agreement. Transport Minister Rossen
Jeliazkov has argued that if the concessionaire's offer is not
accepted, the initial concession remuneration of 660 million
leva, VAT included, will not be paid this year causing
considerable detriment to the state budget. Also, the only
option to finance the airport's activity would be through higher
 airport taxes, he said.

According to Transport Ministry figures, Sofia Airport serviced
2.9 million travellers in 2020, down from 7.1 million in 2019.

On Tuesday Ninova called the Sofia Airport concession deal "a
mirror image of the parallel state model". "This deal was a
refusal to protect the national interests and a strategic
facility of national security importance combined with lobbyism
and backstage dealing. Tomorrow [Wednesday] they want to add to
that a financial blow on the state budget," she said.

BSP has been against the airport concession deal from its
inception. In Ninova's words, fighting the deal has been a cause
 for her party for four years but it did not have enough votes
in the outgoing Parliament to push through its position.

"This is why I am turning officially to There Is Such a People,
Democratic Bulgaria and Rise Up! Thugs Out!, for the first time.
 If they reconfirm their campaign promise to change the
government model, let us do it now with a firm position and stop
 the government decision on Wednesday," the Socialist leader
said. 

Fighting the concession royalty deferral has also been a cause
for Democratic Bulgaria. During the election campaign, co-leader
 Hristo Ivanov slammed the government for agreeing to "give up
half a billion leva on behalf of the people". He said that first
 SOF Connect won the tender, although it did not offer the best
price and investment, and after that the State refuses to
collect concession fees for 10 years "under the pretext of the
coronavirus crisis".

Plans for a moratorium on "such deals"

One of the first things BSP will do in the new Parliament and
before a new government is formed, is to move for a moratorium
on "such deals that the Borissov government is making in the
last moment", said Ninova.

She argued that the only thing the outgoing government should be
 doing by law is ensure the State continues to function until a
new government is formed, and has no right, moral or political,
to make decisions of key importance for the future of the
country.

She further accused the currently ruling GERB party of "clinging
 to power", "cashing in their last days" and "planting mines for
 the next government". By way of example, she said that GERB are
 holding summary procedures to appoint new managers of key
state-owned companies, have started replacing hospital managers
and stepped up the privatization of municipal hospitals in
municipalities where GERB controls the mayors or a majority of
municipal councillors. NV/LN/