Bulgarian MPs' official cars to be sold at auction

The official limousines belonging to the Bulgarian Parliament will be put out for auction because their maintenance is too costly, Bulgarian Speaker Tsestka Tsacheva announced. According to her, the Bulgarian officials will have to use their own cars after the work cars are taken out of use, Novinite.com informs.

In a televised article, Tsacheva explained that of the official cars used by the Bulgarian MPs are pretty used and 40 out of the 165 cars – most of them Mercedes – can no longer be driven. Therefore, the Parliament will give them up as soon as possible, Tsacheva explained. According to her, the Bulgarian MPs will need to use their own cars.

The Parliament’s Speaker herself drives a 10-year old BMW, made available by the Bulgarian National protection Service (NSO), a service that could need new cars, although it is responsible to drive high rank Bulgarian officials.

Taking the officials’ old work cars to auction is considered an anti-crisis measure, aiding to the list of solutions to help cut down the Parliament’s budget by 20%.

Tsacheva proposed to use the money obtained by selling the cars to buy new ones, but fewer and cheaper. But governing party’s vice-president Krasimir Velchev announced on Wednesday that MPs were not going to get new cars.

The Bulgarian parliamentary groups have one week to lay out a strategy addressing transport costs. Meanwhile, MP’s used cars will undergo technical checks to decide whether they are put up for auction.