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Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov has criticized German investors for not applying the business standards of their home country to their operations in Bulgaria.
Borisov had a working lunch with representatives of the German-Bulgarian Chamber of Industry and Commerce in Sofia.
The Prime Minister’s criticism targeted primarily the three electricity distribution utilities CEZ, EVN, and EON, (the third is German-owned) as well as the German industrial giant Siemens.
“With all due respect, Bulgarians are dearer to me. The foreign investors arriving in Bulgaria have quickly learned the local ways rather than apply the business standards from their own countries,” Borisov told the German investors.
He emphasized the numerous complaints from the work of the power utilities, and explained that he will ask the three foreign-owned companies to abide by the Bulgarian legislation, “or to go elsewhere.”
His statement comes after last month he ordered probes into the formation of electricity prices in Bulgaria claiming that political lobbying within the State Commission for Energy and Water Regulation (DKEVR) had helped the utilities get extremely high prices that hurt the Bulgarian consumer. The issue of the potential nationalization of the companies was raised for a while in April but was dismissed as economically unsound. Yet, the PM has continued to criticize their work.
“I might be the Prime Minister for only one more day but I am not going to tolerate their ways. The only thing I want is for them to work as if they are in the home states, nothing more than that. The fact that the former Cabinet kept quiet about all this does not mean that Borisov will keep quiet. How exactly did we offend the dear power utilities – by asking them to adhere to the business standards of their home countries?!,” Borisov declared during his lunch with the German investors.
He even asked the representative of EON, Orlin Dimitrov, the head of the Sofia office of the German company providing electricity in Eastern Bulgaria, to respond to the criticism. Georgiev, however, said only that EON was going to comment on all issues after the probe ordered by the government is fully completed.
“This response was exact, profound, and comprehensive,” Borisov said sarcastically.
He further criticized the German company Siemens for its failure with respect to the issuing of the new Bulgarian identity documents with biometric data. The failure of the system provided by Siemens has led to monstrous lines in front of document offices around Bulgaria, public outrage, and a threat by the Interior Ministry to sanction the German company.
During Wednesday’s lunch, Boryana Manolova, CEO of Siemens Bulgaria, stated that the company was not insulted by the government’s criticism.
“I would be surprised if you were! Do you believe me, madam, that every single night around 9 pm, Interior Minister Tsvetanov texts me to tell how many of the new IDs have been issued that day!,” the Prime Minsiter retorted.
Manolova said the Bulgarian state still had not paid for the new ID system, and that some of the document offices are busier than the others because it took her only 10 minutes to get her new ID.
“What would happen if a Bulgarian power utility causes TV sets in Berlin to explode? What would happen if hundreds of people have to wait in lines before document offices in Munich,” asked the Prime Minister rhetorically during his lunch with German investors.
When asked when Bulgaria’s Interior Ministry and hospitals will pay the sums they owe for deliveries of equipment and medications in 2008 and 2009, Borisov said the private contractors are partly to blame for the situation because they kept making contracts with the former government which could not guarantee the payments on part of the Bulgarian state.
During the business lunch, German investors commended the Borisov government for the measures that it has undertaken against corruption and organized crime but demanded additional efforts against VAT fraud and dishonest competition.
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