Bulgaria guardrail row: minister says contract add-ons broke the law in three regions

Bulgaria's Regional Development Minister Ivan Shishkov said on Friday that amendments to road guardrail contracts in three regions of southern Bulgaria exceeded the amount allowed under the public tender by 50%, which he called a violation of the law. "Clearly, violations of the law were committed in someone's favour," he told reporters in parliament, according to the BTA news agency. The guardrails were installed in 2024 and 2025, and his ministry is checking whether the certificates submitted are genuine.

Shishkov said the tenders were held under the government of Kiril Petkov, while the road agency signed the contracts under a caretaker cabinet and the amendments came later. Interior Minister Ivan Demerdzhiev has told parliament that supplementary agreements had raised the value of six 2022 contracts from just over 253 million leva to nearly 415 million leva.

The DPS party, which has already referred the case to prosecutors, accuses the authorities of using a "magic formula" to inflate prices. DPS lawmaker Halil Letifov asked why Deputy Prime Minister Galab Donev had not appeared before parliament. Shishkov rejected claims by DPS leader Delyan Peevski that a theft of billions was being prepared through his ministry: "I don't know what billions are being prepared, we are not preparing to steal anything."