Bulgarian Socialist Party lacks money to repay 4.29M leva overpaid state subsidy
Kornelia Ninova’s Bulgarian Socialist Party lacks the funds to repay the 4.29 million leva (about 2.19 million euro) it owes after being among 39 political parties shown to have been overpaid state subsidies, it emerged on June 26.
Together, the 39 political parties are obliged to return to the state more than 14.4 million leva in overpaid subsidies. Bulgaria’s Finance Ministry published on June 25 a table of the sums owed by each.
News of the overpaid subsidies renewed debate on cutting the state subsidies paid to political parties and coalitions that get more than one per cent of the vote in an election. A bill to cut the subsidies from 11 leva a vote to one lev has been approved at first reading, but a second reading is on hold pending consultations, with the ruling majority’s next move now unclear.
After Bulgaria’s May 2019 European Parliament elections, Ninova’s BSP was left with about 300 000 to 400 000 leva in the bank, she told journalists.
Ninova said on June 26 that her party did not have the full amount due after the recalculations and the BSP would pay its debt in installments.
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