The year 2011 turned out to be quite turbulent for clerks in the energy sector. Along with the scandal around Annex 12 to the contract for construction of NPP Belene in early April, there were rumours about asking Mr. Traycho Traykov to leave his position of Minister of Economy and Energy. But though he received a yellow card by Prime Minister Boyko Borisov, he kept his chair. On the other hand, the head of the Executive Director of the National Electric Company – Krasimir Parvanov fell, who indeed signed the said Annex with the Russian company Atomstroyexport. The reasons for dismissal were blatant violation of hierarchical rules and failure to follow established procedures for negotiation. For interim CEO of NEC was appointed Michael Andonov (previously Chief Accountant and member of the board of directors), who, after a competition held in late June was formally elected to the position.
A month after this deputies minister Mariy Kosev was asked to leave due to delays in the projects for the diversification of gas connections. As successor to Mr. Kosev was appointed Dilyan Dobrev, who previously had been Deputy Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Economy and Energy. As such Dobrev was remembered mostly with the last-minute amendments to the renewable energy act, which greatly angered investors.
In the last week of 2011 another change in the cabinet of Minister Traykov was approved. By decision of the Council of Ministers his deputy Evgeni Angelov was released from his responsibilities. He will, however, move to 2 Dondukov Str. as part of the economic team of the next President Rosen Plevneliev.
Changes at the top were also seen in Maritza East mines and NPP Kozloduy. By decision of the Bulgarian Energy Holding Evgeni Stoykov replaced Todor Todorov at his managerial position of the mines in February. Later this year the Director of the NPP Kostadin Dimitrov resigned for health reasons and his place was taken by Alexander Nikolov. Mr. Dimitrov stayed less than a year at the position after in November 2010 he replaced the then head of the plant Dimitar Angelov, who had retired. A curious detail is that Mr. Nikolov himself came on the board of NPP Kozloduy after Mr. Angelov left the body. He also turned out to be a victim of a nasty accident – at the end of November he was attacked outside his home. The media launched different versions, but the true perpetrators, and the specific reasons for what happened are still unclear.
