Bulgaria heads to elections after WCC-DB returns 2nd mandate
President Rumen Radev today handed over the second mandate to form a government to WCC-DB but it was immediately returned. This followed the unsuccessful completion of the first mandate of GERB. Hence the last resort is now the third mandate. However, most of parties in parliament claimed that they will return or will not seek support, meaning that Bulgaria is certainly heading to elections.
Most formations in the parliament have declared for 2-in-1 elections - early elections for the National Assembly and for the European Parliament to be held on the same date (probably on June 9). The President, however, has indicated his opposition to such a measure and will likely defer elections until later in the summer.
Some experts claim that it would be difficult to implement 2-in-1 elections because of the uncertainties of appointing a caretaker government after changes to the Constitution.
Total leaves Khan Asparuh after years of exploration
France's TotalEnergies, which is exploring oil and gas in the Bulgarian Khan Asparuh block in the Black Sea along with OMV Petrom, is withdrawing from the project. The company will transfer its share, which is 57.14%, to its Austrian-Romanian branch of OMV. This was reported by several Romanian media and then confirmed by OMV Petrom.
OMV Petrom did not elaborate on its plans, saying only that it was continuing with exploration studies. A year ago, the general manager of TotalEnergies for Bulgaria, Yves Le Stunf, had pinned hopes on the eastern part of Khan Asparuh showing sufficient gas reserves. Drilling, however, will cost between 80 million and 100 million dollars.
Second biggest coal plant lays off a third of workforce
ConturGlobal Maritsa-Iztok 3 coal plant will lay off a third of its workers in an attempt to optimize its costs and preserve the possibility of restarting its work. The move comes after the expiration of the power purchase agreement with the state supplier National Electric Company and the formal suspension of the electricity production of the plant from February 20.
160 people out of a total of 450 people who work in the company's headquarters and corporate office will be laid off. According to Kapital, a large part of the redundancies will be from the administration department.
The plant foresees that it will start working again in the second half of the year, if the market prices of electricity allow it. The problem now is that the cost of generating electricity from coal is higher than the market price of electricity and, realistically, the plant has to sell at a loss if it runs.
Bulgaria heads to elections after WCC-DB returns 2nd mandate
President Rumen Radev today handed over the second mandate to form a government to WCC-DB but it was immediately returned. This followed the unsuccessful completion of the first mandate of GERB. Hence the last resort is now the third mandate. However, most of parties in parliament claimed that they will return or will not seek support, meaning that Bulgaria is certainly heading to elections.
