THE Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF), junior coalition partner to the ruling National Movement Simeon II (NMSII) made a surprise move on January 25 by asking for the cancellation of the negotiations with the only bidder for Bulgartabac - British American Tobacco (BAT).
The MRF insisted on termination of the procedure of the privatisation of Bulgartabac Holding and launching of a new procedure, the party's deputy leader Lyutvi Mestan told reporters.
The MRF was not sure that the transaction to be signed with BAT corresponds to the national interests and the requirements for a strategic investor, said Mestan.
According to the strategy for the privatisation of the holding, adopted by Parliament, the strategic investor should preserve and develop the tobacco industry and the markets for the Bulgarian production, he said.
Such a deal should seek guarantees for the development of Bulgartabac and the related tobacco production, rather than sell the Bulgarian market to other manufacturers, Mestan said.
BAT bid for a pair of Bulgartabac Holding's factories - the ones in Sofia and Plovdiv - in October as part of the privatisation procedure. The second pair of the cigarette factories - Blagoevgrad BT and Stara Zagora BT - received no bids at the time, sparking fears they could be closed, throwing thousands of workers and farmers - many of them ethnic Turks - out of work.
Government has not disclosed details of the BAT offer, thus spurring speculation regarding the price and conditions of the sale.
Mestan said that there was no connection between the MRF position and last week's allegations by the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) about illegal production and smuggling of tobacco of the Bahman Iranian brand by Blagoevgrad BT.
According to BSP deputy leader Rumen Ovcharov, Deputy Prime Minister Lydia Shuleva had been notified of the scandal last April but did not take any steps.
In a statement on January 25, Shuleva said that the BSP allegations were not substantiated by real facts and were mutually contradictory. According to Shuleva, the socialists aimed only to reap political dividends.
Shuleva said she was surprised by the MRF position. The team that carried out the negotiations had already done its job and now the coalition partners from the NMSII and MRF should reach consensus, she said.