Ruslan Stefanov for "hostile takeover" on board BEH and "social experiment that doesn't work"

"Social experiment", in addition, "who is known not to work." Thus, Ruslan Stefanov from the Center for the Study of Democracy determined in an interview with BNR the news that the Bulgarian Energy Holding (BEH) will have a second executive director, as well as that the board of directors has been increased from 5 to 9 according to an application submitted to the Registry Agency by the caretaker Minister of Energy Andrey Zhivkov.. Earlier, the news was reported by 24 Chasa. The request for a change in the management of the megastructure has been submitted for entry in the Commercial Register by the Ministry of Energy.

From the attached documents it is clear that the second executive director of BEH, together with the current Valentin Nikolov, will be Ivan Andreev. He is also the only member of the current board to have attended the meeting of the newly elected leadership. According to the newly adopted statute, the two will be able to represent the company together and separately.

In practice, this is the second attempt of the caretaker Energy Minister Andrey Zhivkov to change the management of the holding. The first time was unsuccessful. Now the composition of the board of directors of BEH is supplemented by the people proposed by Zhivkov at the time, BNR reminded earlier. In this way, some of the members of the holding's board will have passed a competition for the position they hold, while others will not. The period in which the members of the board of directors will hold this position is also different.

"Such decisions that happen at the last minute without prior discussions, without clarity as to why they happen, without a strategic idea of ​​how they happen, especially when it comes to state-owned enterprises and the largest state-owned enterprise, I really don't know how we think anyone somewhere he will think that he will end up in another way, except for the last time, namely with huge losses for the Bulgarian taxpayer or for the Bulgarian energy consumer. I think this lesson should be learned, "Stefanov said.

He said that this decision, as well as previous ones, violates the principle of management of state-owned enterprises according to the OECD handbook, the membership of which we want to join. In this sense, Ruslan Stefanov raised the question on what basis we are trying to become members and how we will be received by such "elite clubs" to which our country otherwise aspires, but did not fail to remind that the previous appointment of the current board of directors it was not transparent.

"The Bulgarian taxpayer and the Bulgarian energy consumer remain in the dark about exactly what will happen to them this time," said Ruslan Stefanov, program director and chief economist at the Center for the Study of Democracy.

"It's not a problem of numbers. The problem is that obviously the new board is hostile to the previous one, "Stefanov said. According to him, there is a fight, "a number with which to remove the old leadership." He admitted that, as before, the old board would seek redress in court.

More important, however, according to him, is the lack of information why it is done - what is the idea, what is the strategy, what follows from now on, what will be the important steps that lead to such a hostile "takeover" on board the largest state-owned enterprise, makes things problematic. " However, it remains unclear what this new board should do to improve.

Stefanov also commented on the so-called "Model contracts" that are being signed today by the energy ministry and industry and should ease business in terms of energy prices.

"We can't talk about independence at all." Only the latest action, which was the so-called redirection of the so-called additional profit of Kozloduy NPP to business, speaks more of a return to the times of central planning," he said, and from this point of view he was adamant that it was not a question of professional management of the holding.

He pointed out that the ministry's job is to make policy, but it lacks a basic strategy and clarity on what the government wants to do. Although it is official, it can put stakes, but alas, I do not think it is going in the right direction, said the analyst.

Ruslan Stefanov also commented on the CPC's complaint filed by OMV against Lukoil for abuse of the monopoly position. This comes to show that something that we have been analyzing for 10 years about the monopoly position on the Bulgarian market exists, said Stefanov. According to him, this is a situation that the CPC cannot cope with and an attempt is being made to act in detours again. According to him, it is important to say that this company has always had a monopoly position on the Bulgarian market, and the situation can be improved by directing efforts to improve competition.