The Parliament will re-vote the amendments to the Privatisation Act thus overriding the presidential veto according to top Bulgarian parliamentary official. Ivan Iskrov, chair of the parliamentary budgetary committee, told novinite.com he did not doubt that the amendments would be passed eventually.

"The will of the present government is to privatise the country's strategic enterprises in the most profitable way under the control of the Parliament," he said commenting in the first minutes after the presidential administration announced the veto. Iskrov stressed that privatization procedures that have been already open will be carried out successfully.

The chief of the budgetary committee said he hoped that Deutsche Bank would not quit the privatization of Bulgaria's tobacco monopoly Bulgartabac unnerved by the complex situation as it was an institution respected worldwide. "We should aim at attracting such investors rather than repulse them," he said.

President Georgi Parvanov imposed a veto on the controversial amendments to the Privatisation Act that would exempt fifteen key deals in Bulgaria from judicial control. Bulgartabac Holding Company, the Bulgarian Telecommunications Company, seven electricity distribution companies, the Vazov Engineering Works of Sopot, Kintex, Teraton, Balkan Air Tour, the Bulgarian River Shipping Corporation and Navigation Maritime Bulgare are the companies to which the new procedure of privatisation will be applied.

Under the cabinet-moved amendments to the Privatisation Act the Cabinet will select the buyers of companies relevant to national security, will set deadline for conclusion of the contracts, as well as their terms. The successful bidder will be named by the Cabinet and then approved by Parliament.