„I haven't seen employer organizations be firm in their demands for a long time. They must protect the interests of business, because it pays the bill. The majority must find the strength to hear and understand business“, commented political analyst Slavi Vassilev on bTV.
„The case with „Lukoil“ shows how this majority works – it adopts laws in 26 seconds, it doesn't care about the opinion of professionals, of civil society. This will eat their heads off“, he believes.
And political scientist Teodor Slavev said that this is the first time he has seen business so angry. According to him, the budget draft is pre-election.
“There will be presidential elections next year, there may be others. Currently, the government is trying to buy electoral love according to a familiar model, and it is through certain structures of the state administration, which vote loyally and can certainly provide a candidate for the first round,“ said Slavev.
According to political scientist Tsvetanka Andreeva, Teodor Slavev's claims that the first round of the presidential elections can be bought with a 90,000-strong administration that does not vote for a single political entity are speculative.
Slavi Vassilev, however, agreed with Slavev that it is a matter of “buying electoral love“.
“You want to give away a lot of money so that you can quell the social tension caused by the fact that we see partners who are unacceptable to a large part of society,“ said Vassilev.
“The terrain for The tripartite negotiations regarding the budget were quite undermined by both sides. Ultimatums were also coming from the business side. If we say that there are no reforms in this budget, that would be true“, said Andreeva.
„Employers recognize that this budget is a consensus between the left and the right. In my opinion, the consensus is within the partners and the majority, which will accept it and bear clear political responsibility“, she pointed out.
According to Teodor Slavev, this budget freezes social payments.
„The idea of making such reforms piecemeal is, to put it mildly, inexplicable“, he added.
The case of „Lukoil“ and the special manager
„The only thing certain in the whole situation is President Radev's consistency in defending Russian interests. We are currently in force majeure circumstances. The president is against the state taking control of the refinery“, said Tsvetanka Andreeva.
According to her, it is extremely important for the state to take control of the refinery in this situation.
Slavi Vassilev stated that the state had the authority to take control of the refinery before they adopted the law in 26 seconds.
„There was an amendment to the oil law in 2023. The difference between the wording then and now is that the special commercial manager can dispose of the shares without control. This shows that there is obviously some plan“, Vassilev pointed out.
„My personal belief is that not a single euro from Bulgaria or from the Western allied countries should go to finance Putin's war in Ukraine. But the president's motives in the veto are very serious. What the experts say - if they start arbitrating us tomorrow, it may turn out that we are actually financing Putin's war. I don't know if this is what they are aiming for with this law," said Teodor Slavev, for his part.