Bulgaria Govt Cries Foul over Management of Property Abroad

The building that houses the Bulgarian embassy in Washington is said to be sinking and renovation works are urgent. Photo by webhousing.biz/~bulgaria

The management of the Bulgarian state-owned property abroad has been chaotic and detrimental, an official audit, conducted by the new center-right government, shows.

“The most correct description of the situation at the moment is “chaos”, Foreign Minister Rumiana Jeleva said at a press conference on Monday, which she hosted together with the head of her political cabinet Dimitar Kyumyurdzhiev.

Eight years ago during the beginning of the rule of former king Simeon Saxe-Coburg, the Foreign Ministry splurged a total of EUR 500,000 for drawing up a strategy for managing the state-owned properties abroad, but it was never implemented, the officials said.

To rectify the situation, the new government has formed a special working group, which will review the problems case by case.

Bulgaria's state-owned properties abroad total 220 with BGN 1 M spent on their maintenance each year.

The buildings that house the diplomatic missions in Washington, Thessaloníki, Warsaw, London, Hague and Istanbul are in a deplorable condition, while others, primarily in former communist countries, have been beset by restitution claims.

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