The mayor of Bulgaria's Plovdiv, confirmed his demand that the government transferred the ownership of 78% of the local cigarette-maker factory to the Plovdiv Municipality.

This happened at a meeting with members of parliament from the Plovdiv region and with trade union leaders. Seven of the nine MPs present at the meeting supported the mayor Slavcho Atanasov in his demand, including deputies from the National Movement for Stability and Progress, the Union of the Democratic Forces, the Democrats for Strong Bulgaria, the Agrarian People's Union, the VMRO, and the Ataka party.

Only two MPs from the Bulgarian Socialist Party did not support the Plovdiv mayor in his motion.

The City Council is going to vote at its next meeting whether to authorize the Mayor Atanasov and the council chair Yordan Kyumurdjiev to negotiate with the government for the transfer of the state-owned share of the factory to the municipal authority.

"If the government cannot handle it, the Plovdiv Municipality is going to assume this commitment", Atanasov said adding he had been deeply puzzled by the analyses that say the Plovdiv tobacco factory was not profitable. He stressed that its profit for 2007 amounted to BGN 1,2 M.

The MP from the Ataka Party Pavel Shopov said the governing board of Bulgartabak, Bulgaria's cigarette making monopoly, had to resign and to be investigated because of suspicions for draining of funds and contraband deals leading to Moldova. In his words, the aim of the proclaimed restructuring of Bulgartabak was to open space for foreign interests in the tobacco business.

Plodviv mayor's demands for municipal ownership of the Plovdiv tobacco factory come in the wake of a decision by the management of the cigarette producing monopoly Bulgartabak Holding to concentrate its production by discontinuing its contracts with the two factories in the cities of Plovdiv and Stara Zagora.

Thus, the production of all of Bulgartabak's brands will be moved to the remaining two factories in Sofia and Blagoevgrad, and the plants in Stara Zagova and Plovdiv will be left only with a license to produce tobacco products.

The workers in the two factories to be closed will receive compensations of one monthly salary for each year they worked for Bulgartabak but not more than 20 salaries in total.

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