French shipbuilding company Armaris has offered the Bulgarian Government a new deal: to purchase the licence for the construction of new navy corvettes, as stated by Tsvetomira Zhekova, media advisor of the Bulgarian Defence Ministry, as reported by Dnevnik daily.

The latest French deal has been formed after years of fruitless negotiations that ultimately quagmired the old proposal of Bulgaria buying the French vessels.  Ultimately,  officials revealed that Bulgaria does not have one billion leva at its immediate disposal to purchase the warships, as had initially been agreed.

Nikolay Tsonev, the Defence Minister, said on Wednesday March 4 that a proposal was introduced in Cabinet for the creation of a task force to decide whether the purchase of the licence for the construction of the warships is feasible.

"This is not just about corvettes; it's about different types and classes of warships," said Zhekova. The Defence Minister's idea is to stimulate shipbuilding in Bulgaria. The "task force" is expected to reach a final decision within 20 days and give the French side a final answer.

Zhekova has refused to reveal the parametres around the latest Armaris offer, namely the price tag by which Bulgaria will be able to acquire and build its own modern warships. According to unnamed sources, the price is said to be around 60 million euro.

Competition for the corvettes began at the beginning of 2005, with seven companies offering their proposals to the Bulgarian Government. It was won by the French Armaris, with the German Lurssen coming in second. Since then, there has been virtually no development on the project, in spite of the French government constantly encouraging its Bulgarian counterpart to start activity.