Sofia City Court (SGS) announced that the Municipality of Varna was not the owner of 29% of the shares of the Plovdiv Fair. PP-DB MP Bogdan Bogdanov called on the Municipality to return the shares to the state. The Ministry of Economy promised to protect the public interest, BGNES reported.
The Plovdiv Fair is the oldest exhibition of this type not only in Bulgaria, but also in the Balkans. It was created at the end of the 19th century. After the changes in our country, the fair was privatized and gradually lost its importance as the most important and attractive center for the economy of Plovdiv and the region. The case in which the state requested to recover 29 percent of the shares in the exhibition was filed last year by the Minister of Economy Bogdan Bogdanov.
Sofia City Court (SHC) published the decision in the case regarding the shares of the Plovdiv fair. According to him, the Varna Municipal Council contributed the shares of the Municipality from the International Fair in Plovdiv to the company “Paldin Turinvest” is void. The magistrates are categorical that the Municipality of Varna never became the owner of 29% of the shares of the Plovdiv Fair. For this reason, she has no right to dispose of them. This is stated in the decision, of 37 pages, of the SGS.
Although the court declared the transfer of the shares null and void, it rejected the state's claim against the Municipality of Varna for the rights to them.
On this occasion, the Ministry of Economy and Industry issued a position saying that it will continue to protect the public interest and property of the state regarding the rejection part of the above decision. The development of the Plovdiv fair remains a key priority for the state, the MII emphasizes.
Former Minister of Economy and current deputy from PP-DB Bogdan Bogdanov called on the Municipality of Varna to restore the shares of the Plovdiv Fair to the Ministry of Economy. “The decision is another proof that there was systematic inaction by various ministers of the economy, by various representatives of the administration, both in Varna and in Plovdiv”, he said.
According to him, when there is lack of economy and persistence to protect an interest other than the state's, then we have expenses that, instead of being directed to society, go to cases that the state leads against the municipality.
The Plovdiv exhibition is symbolic not only for Plovdiv, but also for Bulgaria. According to the last estimate made in the middle of the first decade of the 21st century, it was worth BGN 1 billion, currently it is worth much more. This was stated by the PP-DB MP Manol Peykov. “The Plovdiv fair is a huge, huge asset. "He is an asset not only for the people of Plovdiv, he is an asset for Bulgaria," Peykov emphasized. According to him, the Municipality of Varna tried to help the businessman Georgi Gergov with his actions to help the fair.