BG

PRIME MINISTER BOYKO BORISSOV HELD A TELEPHONE CONVERSATION WITH HIS CZECH COUNTERPART ANDREJ BABIS

01.03.2018

 

Prime Ministers Borissov and Babis discussed the sale of assets of the CEZ Group in Bulgaria late last night in a telephone conversation. In this conversation, the Bulgarian Prime Minister asked for further clarification on the Czech government's position.

 

Andrei Babis said that after the doubts expressed by the media in the Czech Republic regarding the buyer company, he asked for evidence to be provided to dispel the concerns about the deal. In this regard, the Supervisory Board of the CEZ Group has requested from the Board of Directors of the company information about Inercom. The Board of Directors has confirmed to the National Assembly that it has carried out multiple inspections of the potential buyer and its sources of financing, and they have not found any problems with the sale, and CEZ's management has maintained that position, the Czech Prime Minister said.

 

Borissov pointed out that he had asked for the first telephone conversation because of the importance of the electricity company for Bulgaria and the way negotiations on its sale took place, which has caused many questions. He said the exchanged views with Prime Minister Babis on Tuesday, as well as the information provided by the Czech and Bulgarian media about the sources of financing of the buyer, have caused his doubts that the deal is problematic.

 

Both heads of government stated that they did not have any link to the deal or the buyer company, the decisions on which were taken by the CEZ Group's Board of Directors. The two were categorical that they had made public their doubts about non-compliance with good practices in the deal and confirmed that they would be careful that the inspections of the competent authorities of the two countries are carried out in full.

 

The Bulgarian Prime Minister asked his Czech counterpart to facilitate the arrangement of talks with the leadership of the CEZ Group in case the Bulgarian state decides to take action to buy the activity of the electricity distribution company in our country. For his part, the Czech Prime Minister has pointed out that contracts have already been signed.