Bulgarian Cabinet 'Salvages' Rozhen Observatory

The Rozhen observatory in the Rhodope Mountains is not going to be closed, Bulgarian PM Borisov promised. File photo

Bulgaria's cabinet will slate BGN 245 000 by the end of the year for the Rozhen observatory in the Rhodope Mountains, Prime Minister, Boyko Borisov, announced Tuesday.

Borisov met with the observatory's Director, Tanyo Bonev, the Deputy PM and Finance Minister, Simeon Djankov, and the Education Minister, Sergey Ignatov.

Borisov was adamant the observatory is not facing closure because it has many projects and trains college and university students, but reiterated the institutes of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (BAS) must be separate entities in order to avoid problems similar to the ones faced by Rozhen now.

"Next year, with the new BAS Act, we will have new rules for financing. This is precisely the reform we want to carry out at BAS – the institutes which are important and productive to be able to deal with their own subsidies from the State budget," the PM stated, voicing hope the reform would eliminate "talks similar to the one he had with Bonev.'

Ignatov informed the annual budget of the observatory is BGN 600 000, adding his Ministry saved BNG 7 M in 2010, mainly by cutting expenses for business trips.

The observatory Director thanked the cabinet for "the helping hand in dire times."

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