Customs Agency To Merge With National Revenue Agency
The Ministry of Finance has begun working on the creation of a single revenue agency that will unite the National Revenue Agency (NRA) and the Customs Agency. The idea, proposed several times in the past - including by GERB in 2015 - has now been revived by Finance Minister Assen Vassilev. So far, however, the integration of the two bodies has never been implemented.
Because of the planned restructuring, the Finance Minister announced he has appointed the former director of the Customs Agency Pavel Tonev as his advisor to support the work on the creation of the single revenue agency. According to the current plan, Petya Bankova, a former deputy executive director of the Customs Agency, will become the director of the new institution.
Zheleznitsa Tunnel On Struma Highway to Greece Becomes Operational
After more than 5 years of construction, the Zheleznitsa tunnel on Struma highway near Blagoevgrad was finally opened to traffic on Tuesday, the Road Infrastructure Agency (RIA) announced.
The facility is about 2 km long and is the longest road tunnel ever built in the country. Together with the sections before and after it, a total of 5 km of new motorway road have been put in operation. Its construction cost about 425 million levs, including for access roads and landslide prevention.
Struma Motorway is part of the Orient/East Mediterranean European corridor (known as Corridor 4), connecting parts of Central Europe with ports of the North, Baltic, Black and Mediterranean Seas. It also carries heavy traffic from Bulgaria to Greece in the summer.
Anti-monopoly Commission Allows Abu Dhabi Telecom To Acquire Yettel Control Share
The Commission for Protection of Competition (CPC) has allowed the United Arab Emirates conglomerate Emirates Telecommunications Group Company (e&) to acquire a controlling stake (50% + 1) in the Czech group PPF, which owns Yettel Bulgaria and the Bulgarian TV channels bTV and Ring. The decision was taken on 15 February, but was only made public today.
Negotiations with e& began in June, Capital weekly reported at the time. The sale, which is worth 2.15 billion euro, includes not only the telecom business in Bulgaria, but also that in Serbia and Hungary. E& is a telecoms operator with its headquarters and registered office in Abu Dhabi. The company provides services to 159 million subscribers in 16 countries in the Middle East, Asia and Africa, but has no significant commercial activities in the EU and only generates turnover from international roaming charges and call termination agreements.
Customs Agency To Merge With National Revenue Agency
The Ministry of Finance has begun working on the creation of a single revenue agency that will unite the National Revenue Agency (NRA) and the Customs Agency. The idea, proposed several times in the past - including by GERB in 2015 - has now been revived by Finance Minister Assen Vassilev. So far, however, the integration of the two bodies has never been implemented.
