Bulgaria Socialists Oppose Sale of Arms Firms

Two of Bulgaria's major state-owned arm companies, the producer VMZ-Sopot and the exporter Kintex, are to be privatized over the next three years, according to a mid-term economic forecast of the Ministry of Finance.

The privatization plan foresees selling VMZ-Sopot, which is the biggest arm producer in Bulgaria, in 2018, and Kintex in 2019.

The government hopes to earn over 90 million leva [45 million euros] from selling a total of 12 state-owned companies in the three-year-period.

Part of the profit will be used to buy new fighter jets to replace Communist-era MiG-29s, as well as buying multifunctional module ships for the navy, the document states.

The government approved significant investments in the air force and navy worth over 1.2 billion euros in the end of March.

The planned privatization of the two arms companies has provoked anger in the opposition Bulgarian Socialist Party, however.

Members of BSP from Karlovo municipality, where the VMZ-Sopot arms factory is located, opposed the sale of the plant on Saturday because of its strategic role for the region and the country.

They vowed to use all parliamentary, political and civil forms of pressure available to block the deal.

"We will start conversations with unions, civil structures and the parliamentary group of BSP-Left Bulgaria to take all the necessary measures for the factory, which has been stabilized over the past three years, to remain under state control," the head of the BSP in Karlovo said.

He added that preserving state control was in the interest of "mobilization capacity, wartime plans and the security of the state".

The debt-ridden VMZ-Sopot went insolvent in 2008 and since then has suffered major financial and social challenges,...