The information we have is that the freezing of the contract with "Botaş" did not happen for free, said the chairman of "Vazrazhdane" Kostadin Kostadinov to journalists in parliament and raised the question of whether Prime Minister Rumen Radev promised the concession of the "Black Sea" highway to Turkey.
After the meeting of Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara, "Bulgargaz" and "Botaş" signed a protocol to freeze the contract between the two companies for 15 months, within which only the capacity used by the Bulgarian side will be paid for with improved conditions, the press service of the Council of Ministers announced yesterday.
"As far as we understand from the negotiations, Erdogan has ultimately demanded a concession for the "Black Sea" highway as a start and the most convenient terms for them for electricity transmission through Bulgaria, which means almost free of charge or at a symbolic price," said the leader of "Vazrazhdane" Kostadin Kostadinov. "Of course, we still have no way of verifying this information, so we will still ask the Prime Minister to provide information to the National Assembly about the essence of the talks", he added.
Kostadinov noted that Radev and his supporters have explained that this agreement is extremely successful for Bulgaria, very useful, very profitable. Suddenly it turns out that it is neither successful, nor useful, nor profitable, and suddenly it turns out that we will have to renegotiate it and freeze it, he commented. "Since the Turks do not do anything for free, the big question is whether Rumen Radev has actually promised part of the country's territory, because the highway concession is exactly that", Kostadinov pointed out.
"We do not know exactly what Rumen Radev is talking about with Erdogan, but we are extremely worried because his visit resembles a visit by a vassal to his master", commented the chairman of "Vazrazhdane". "We see how in less than a month Rumen Radev promises the "Belene" NPP to Ukraine, the waters of Bulgaria to Greece, and the "Black Sea" highway to Turkey", Kostadin Kostadinov also said.
"If it turns out that talks were actually held to grant a concession for the "Black Sea" highway to the Turkish state, this constitutes treason. Radev must be tried," said the leader of "Vazrazhdane". "The second thing - if it turns out that steps are indeed taken in this direction, "Vazrazhdane" will organize protests, because we will not allow anyone to concession Bulgarian land to a foreign country, especially Turkey," added Kostadinov.
For us, the most important thing is that the talks took place in an extremely opaque atmosphere, the chairman of "Vazrazhdane" also commented. "We practically do not know what they said. We will still want to receive information. I hope that we will receive such, although practice has shown that Radev does not give answers," he added.