After pullout by Latvia
With a terse communiqué made at lunchtime on 18 February, the Bulgarian government has announced the decision not to participate in Expo 2015 in Milan, only weeks before the opening.
As reported by Bulgarian news agency Focus, “Bulgaria’s Council of Ministers has repealed a decision made on 14 February, 2014 on Bulgaria’s participation in the world exhibition EXPO 2015 in Milan, Italy, the press service of the government announced.
“The reason for the move is the enormous delay in the preparation last year. “The deadlines required for various procedures under the Public Procurement Act do not allow their being successfully conducted.
“As far as spending budget resources on the part of state institutions follows Bulgarian and European legislation in the field of public procurements, in order to ensure competition on the market of services, deliveries and construction, the Bulgarian side cannot violate the free market rules, giving a groundless advantage to a certain contractor.”
The participation contract had been signed by agriculture minister Dimitar Grekov on 18 March last year. The pullout follows a similar move by Latvia in January.