Bulgaria Lays Out Plans to Prop Up Struggling Railway

Earlier on Friday, Nedev announced that the passenger trains in Bulgaria could stop running as early as mid-August because of the company's financial difficulties.

He explained that the cash-strapped Bulgarian State Railways, BDZ, urgently needs the transfer of BGN 14 million [€7 million] from the state in order to keep serving passengers. The state subsidy for BDZ was halted a month ago over the default on a World Bank loan in the amount of BGN 150 million.

The emergency body will most likely take up its task early next week, and will include the BDZ management as well as Transport Minister Ivaylo Moskovski and deputy transport ministers, Nedev told the Bulgarian News Agency on Friday afternoon.

According to Nedev, the Finance Ministry terminated the monthly state subsidy for BDZ without any explanation. In his words, this may force the company to halt some or all of its trains at any given moment.

Nedev said the Finance Minister had no right to terminate the state subsidy because this is a violation of the State Budget Act, which stipulates that subsidies of this kind cannot be terminated or withdrawn.

When asked if he had spoken with Finance Minister Simeon Djankov, the BDZ chief said he has had no contact with Djankov.

Nedev neither confirmed nor denied his intention to resign from his post, stating only that his resignation would be logical in the current situation.

The crisis in BDZ has continued to deepen, as the company's total debts approach BGN 1 billion.

On Thursday, Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov suggested that German company Siemens and German bank KfW could take over BDZ Freight Services in exchange for BDZ's debt to the two companies.