Tension in the parliament was created again during the discussion of a draft decision that would oblige the Council of Ministers to renegotiate the current concessions for gold, precious and rare metals mining.
A different scenario was supposed to take place today in the plenary hall of the National Assembly, namely for the deputies to consider the country's three budgets for 2025 at first reading. But since it is the first session of the month, according to the rules of parliament, the opposition parties have the right to propose their own items on the agenda. And so the proposal of MECH to oblige the Council of Ministers to review the concessions for gold, silver and platinum that are in Bulgaria was voted on.
The GERB-SDF party opposed it, arguing that it is in the State Budget Law that there is a point that provides for these concessions to be reviewed, or rather, that they should be increased, with the state receiving nearly 500 million leva if this particular section of the budget is voted on.
The "Vazrazhdane" party began to use procedural tricks to delay the debates, precisely with the argument that the budgets should not be considered today.
Radostin Vassilev - Chairman of MECH: "We insist on renegotiating all existing concessions for the extraction of gold, precious and rare metals, in order to increase concession payments and increase control. In case of disagreement on the revision and renegotiation of payments and in connection with the clearly unfavorable conditions for Bulgaria, these contracts must be terminated."
Alexander Ivanov - GERB-SDF: "That is why it is political chewing gum, because many times before you, people who are no longer in this hall and in political life have commented on the topic. We will abstain, because rather by supporting the budget that is proposed for 25 years, it will open the door for the Minister of Energy to change the regulation, to change the law, to propose it in the National Assembly and for these fees to be increased."
Victor Papazov - "Vazrazhdane: "The topic is extremely relevant, because I don't know how many of you realize that all concessions are actually a rentier business. We have sold out and given away the wealth of Bulgaria and that is why we are poor, because we are a colony."
Yavor Bojankov - PP-DB: "I will not dwell on the topic of how this affects the investment climate in Bulgaria - this absurd debate. You speak against "Dundee Precious Metals", and they finance you. If there is anyone who is consistent and extremely persistent, it is precisely the "Vazrazhdane" party.
Yordan Tsonev - DPS-NN: "We from DPS-NN believe that the state's policy in this area should be revised, to put it mildly, without affecting investors, but there is a way for the state's interest to be protected."
Toshko Yordanov - ITN: "In the proposal made in this way, there are some things that we would support, and others that we would not. According to our data, if the contract is terminated, they will gain more, and the state will lose much more, i.e. terminating the contracts is not a practical solution for us at the moment, so this is our editorial proposal.
And the topic of the so-called defense innovation center, which was announced at today's meeting of the Council of Ministers, became an occasion for comments by the leader of "DPS - New Beginning" Delyan Peevski on the sidelines of the National Assembly. He asked the rhetorical question - what kind of center will be built, since the state has no money? And he declared himself against continued aid to Ukraine in the future, saying that Bulgarian citizens need these funds more. The MECH proposal to renegotiate the concessions was just voted on. The majority in the hall rejected it.