The deadline by which the Bulgarian-Portuguese consortium had to secure the money for the construction for Trakiya Highway expired on May 14. By the end of the working day, the Regional Development and Public Works Ministry had not received any information on the issue, minister Assen Gagaouzov told the morning talk show of private channel bTV.

“At least [we know that] no bank institution has extended a loan” to the consortium, Gagaouzov said.

Asked whether that meant that the concession contract for Trakiya Highway was annulled, the minister said: “I can say that there is a great chance of that happening, but I cannot say it categorically, because we have not received an official answer [from the consortium]. I can say with some certainty that there won’t be concession for Trakiya Highway.”

Once the ministry has the answer, Gagaouzov would report to the Cabinet and the Government will make a decision to annul the concession, most probably at its May 22 meeting, the minister said.

Milen Velchev, deputy leader of the National Movement for Stability and Progress (NMSP) and former finance minister in the NMSP cabinet that signed the concession contract, said in the same show that “the state did what was correct in the case. It is a pity about the three years lost for construction, but the alternative was to suspend the contract unilaterally, which would have had negative consequences.”

Concerning the funding of construction, Gagaouzov said that the Cabinet “has a serious sum in the structural budget,” which could be used to build the highway. It was true that the delay in the construction increased the price, but added that "if we start immediately assigning the construction, we could keep within the initially calculated highest price".

If the concession is annulled, the Cabinet will break down the contract into three or four smaller tenders. The price paid would depend on when construction would begin. “If the Cabinet makes the decision, I am ready to announce a tender within a week,” Gagaouzov said.

Former Sofia mayor and caretaker prime minister Stefan Sofianski told Nova TV private channel that the "bad economic policies of the Cabinet generates additional inflation.”

“Slovakia is introducing the euro and we don’t have the chance [to do so] before 2015, even though we had a better starting position because of the currency board,” he said. This Cabinet should resign as soon as possible for the people’s sake, according to Sofianski.