Sofia's draft budget for 2008 will be discussed and voted by the municipal councillors on March 6, the council decided at its monthly session on February 28.

The session next week would count as the second half of the February 28 meeting, thus technically circumventing the legal requirement for all municipal budgets to be approved by end-February, Focus news agency reported.

Debates on the agenda of the meeting went on for 40 minutes, but in the end the councillors rejected the proposal to postpone the voting of the annex to the contract between Sofia municipality and Sofiyska Voda, the city's water and sewerage concessionaire, which clarifies some of the contentious issues in the contract.

During the debates, councillors from rightist party Democrats for Strong Bulgaria insisted on annulling the concession contract, arguing it was not favourable for Sofia residents even with the proposed amendments.

Sofia mayor Boiko Borissov said that he couldn’t take the responsibility for cancelling the contract because of the damages that the city would have to pay. Borissov also cited European Commission experts saying that it was the best concession contract signed over the part 10 years in Europe, as a defense against annulling it.

The council approved the annex once in 2007, but additional corrections were made necessary after talks with the Ministry of Environment and Water Affairs.