All Countries and All Sectors

With the July 29 decision of the Supreme Administrative Court (SAC) to bring Austria's Viva Ventures back into the deal on privatisation of the Bulgarian Telecommunications Company (BTC), the state giant's troubled sell off entered another chapter of uncertainty. Meanwhile, the country's authorities pondered a new strategy for privatising the Varna shipyards, while discussion continued on the best way to sell off another key company - Bulgartabac.

With the signing of a contract for the privatisation of Bulgaria’s state telecoms company last week, the country’s sell off programme received a major boost. This calmed some of the concerns of international lenders, though the prospects of legal action and worries that the new cabinet might not stick firmly to fiscal guidelines, continued to cause a few furrowed brows in Sofia.

Despite high level negotiations in Ankara, Russia and Turkey failed yet again to resolve a price and volume dispute over natural gas mid-July, though Turkey's energy minister suggested a settlement was still possible as the month drew to a close - and that gas shipments might even resume on August 1.

A short four months after Turkey’s pre-war refusal to allow the US permission to open a ‘northern front’ in Iraq from Turkish territory, relations between the two NATO allies reached a new low this month. This followed the July 4 detention of 11 members of Turkey’s special forces by US soldiers in the Northern Iraqi city of Sulaymaniyah. The detentions were the result of US intelligence reports that the Turkish soldiers were planning to assassinate the governor of Kirkuk. Most Turks, however, saw the raid as a retaliatory snub for Turkey’s position during the Iraq crisis - and as a move designed to undermine Turkey’s presence and influence in Northern Iraq.

With the recent announcement that Bulgaria expected to close the environment chapter of its accession negotiations with the European Union, the country edged closer still towards eventual EU membership. Meanwhile though, an old environmental issue appeared to resurface in the shape of the Kozlodui nuclear plant, with the announcement that the company maintaining it had been sold off. The issue highlighted Bulgaria's ongoing debate on nuclear power, and its role as a regional energy conduit.