Eurasia Press & News
The European Commission (EC) has opened three infringement procedures against Bulgaria over a flawed public procurement tender and the country’s failure to incorporate two Directives into its national legislation.
The first procedure involves a violation of European public procurement regulations on the part of the Electricity System Operator (ESO), a unit of Bulgaria’s state-owned power utility NEK.
EC has sounded the alarm about a flawed tender for hiring security services announced by ESO on August 05, 2008 for a period of 3 years and an estimated value of EUR 1 M.
ESO stands accused of violating EU principles of equality and non-discrimination after listing Bulgarian citizenship as a selection criteria and requiring all candidate companies to have a permit valid in only one of the remaining EU countries, more specifically, the UK.
In a separate infringement procedure, EC threatens Bulgaria and nine other countries with court action unless they report in two months’ time that they have incorporated the Directive on the Promotion of Clean and Energy Efficient Road Transport Vehicles into their domestic legal systems. The ten defaulting EU members were required to do this by December 04, 2010.
In a third infringement procedure, EC warns Bulgaria and four other member states that they will face the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in Luxembourg in two months unless they confirm that they have transposed into their national legislation the Waste Framework Directive 2008, which were to do by December 12, 2010.
