Blatant errors of government, breach of the rules and putting out fires in most ministries since day one – that is how Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov described what his cabinet inherited from the caretaker government, at a briefing given by the prime minister and several cabinet ministers.  

Billions of Leva are at risk, or have been lost, he said; last year a regular draft budget was not presented as required by law, and the one put forward eventually included an excessive budget deficit of 6.4%; because of delayed reforms and investments that have not been made under the Recovery and Resilience Plan Bulgaria risks not receiving some of the funding in 2023.

Nikolay Denkov gave a number of examples – one of them concerns the contract with the Turkish state-run company Botas for the purchase, sale and supply of natural gas, which puts the Bulgarian side at a disadvantage.  

• Bulgarian government approves agreement between Bulgargaz and Turkey's Botas

The prime minister explained that the Turkish company is given access to the Bulgarian and the European market, whereas we do not have access to the Turkish market. What is more, the 13-year contract means we owe hundreds of millions of Leva a year, even if we do not import the gas quantities set down.

“The energy minister has assumed the commitment of trying to negotiate the best conditions possible for Bulgaria, with all due respect to the Turkish side, but he has been placed in an extremely difficult and disadvantageous position,” PM Denkov said.