site.btaVazrazhdane MP Describes Bill on Sale of Lukoil Assets in Bulgaria as "Lobbying"

Vazrazhdane MP Yordan Todorov described the bill on the sale of assets of the Russian oil company Lukoil in Bulgaria as "lobbying" as it includes the company's name. Speaking to journalists in Parliament on Wednesday, he said that "there is no other law in force that specifies the exact name of a private company."

He raised the issue that the bill does not specify the deadlines by which the sale must be approved by the Council of Ministers after receiving a report from the State Agency for National Security. "In purely administrative terms, such a deal could be delayed for months, even years," he said.

Todorov linked the introduction of the bill to an article in The Wall Street Journal, which discusses GERB-UDF Floor Leader Boyko Borissov and a possible sale of the refinery. According to the American daily, "former Prime Minister Boyko Borissov, still Bulgaria’s most powerful man,” saw an opportunity in April when Trump Jr. was on his Eastern European tour, to “advertise the [Balkan Stream] pipeline and other Bulgarian assets.”

Vazrazhdane MP Iskra Mihaylova pointed out that the bill had been voted on by an extraordinary energy committee, where it became clear that those insisting on its introduction were from the Movement for Rights and Freedoms – New Beginning. Mihaylova raised the question of how MPs had learned about the possible sale of the refinery, as this is the type of information that is obtained by the services that should report to the prime minister.