Today, we saw only half of the German model in the law. This was said in the program "Face to Face" on BTV by Ruslan Stefanov, an economist from the Center for the Study of Democracy in connection with the urgently approved legislative changes, giving enormous powers to the special commercial manager, who will be appointed to "Lukoil Neftokhim" due to US sanctions against the Russian "Lukoil".
The German model is indeed being followed in terms of giving more powers to the special manager, but many important details are missing from the German bill that provide legal certainty. These steps provide for coordination with the owner of the assets. Our law states relatively generally that after a market analysis, the assets may be disposed of by a decision of the Council of Ministers. It is striking that the German approach is very consistent - in their case, all political parties agree with this legislation, and their law is based on a law from the 1970s, Stefanov said.
The devil is in the details - as the law is written, there is a danger of nationalization, so there should be a much more detailed description of how exactly the owner's consent will be ensured. The problem behind this is the possible legal consequences, such as those in Germany. Nationalization is usually very easily condemned in international arbitrations. This danger reduces the effectiveness of the sanctions of the American Overseas Assets Control Office (OFAC). This will actually reduce the power of US sanctions in the long term, as there is a risk that Russia will receive more compensation than the value of the sanctions, the economist stressed.
That is why our international partners want us to have much more detailed procedures. On the one hand, we must ensure compliance with US sanctions, but on the other hand, we must ensure a long-term competitive fuel market. And this lack of detailed rules leads to the risk of paying large compensation in the future, he noted.
There is no doubt that the special manager guarantees that the refinery will continue to operate. It is hard to believe that there will be major problems with supplies, even in the event of a refinery shutdown. It is much better to have such a special manager - supplies will remain rhythmic. And it would be even better not to lead to international condemnation of Bulgaria, which could cost us billions, Ruslan Stefanov added.