Bulgarians Join Balkan Protest Against Soaring Food Prices
Bulgaria has joined Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro in organizing protests against rising food prices
Austrian road construction consortium "Strabag" has lodged a complaint with Bulgaria’s Commission for Protection of Competition (CPC).
The target of the complaint is the National Road Infrastructure Agency, the CPC has announced on Friday, and concerns the recent bidding procedure for construction of a new section of the "Trakiya" highway. "Strabag" consortium’s bid was one of four excluded from the process, for unspecified reasons.
The Austrian company is now seeking to have the announced award - to "Unified Highway Trace", a Bulgarian consortium - annulled.
CPC has not yet initiated proceedings on the appeal, it announced on Friday, because it is waiting for the mandatory statutory deadline for correction of any irregularities in the documentation of the applicant.
The lead partner in the winning consortium is "Bulgarian Trace Group Hold", owned by businessman Nikolay Mihaylov. Subsidiaries include "PSI", "SK13 Holding", "Viastroy Engineering" and "Road Construction - Dobrich".
The group's proposed cost for the project was almost three times lower than the highest offer received, at EUR 2,2 M per kilometer, while in 2005-2007 it had built the section from Orizovo to Stara Zagora for EUR 2,4 M per km.
The Lot 2 budget set by the construction ministry for the 32-km section from Stara Zagora to Nova Zagora was EUR 3 M per km.
Because of the low price submitted, the company will be asked for additional justification, said chairman of the selection committee Dimitar Margaritov. He predicted that the committee would issue a final decision on the confirmed winner within three weeks.
Bulgaria has the lowest minimum wage among the European Union member states as of January 2025, standing at 551 euros
Since being created as a joke cryptocurrency , Dogecoin has become a popular cryptocurrency with an active community of developers, traders, and investors.
Economists have urged Bulgaria’s leadership to submit an application to the European Commission and the European Central Bank for an extraordinary convergence report on joining the eurozone
Representatives of Bulgaria’s ruling coalition have once again highlighted a significant deficit in the state budget, with Stanislav Balabanov from "There Is Such a People" (TISP) stating that 2025 will be a transitional year regarding the eurozone
Valeri Belchev, former acting Minister of Finance, recently expressed strong concerns about Bulgaria's financial management, particularly focusing on the lack of proper budget management tools
Kalin Hristov, former deputy governor of the Bulgarian National Bank and former finance minister, expressed concern over the public discourse on key economic issues
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