Some 1000 workers in one of Bulgaria’s largest defense industry enterprises EMKO went on protest earlier this week over the company’s frozen license. The measure has been imposed by the Interdepartmental Council for the Defense Industry and Security of Supplies. The workers are worried over the prospect of losing their jobs, but Minister of Economy Emil Karanikolov has vowed that the enterprise will continue operation once technological irregularities in the manufacturing process have been eliminated. Both the workers and the company’s management admit there are such irregularities.

Similar trouble was recently seen in another arms industry enterprise, Dunarit, which operates successfully today. The two cases are alike not only in terms of the motivation behind protests but also regarding ownership – both companies own privatized plants with private property and are connected in a sophisticated scheme of transferring or attempts of transferring property from the one company into the other. This has prompted media speculations about corruption or fraud where the two enterprises are concerned.

Given the trade and manufacturing specifics of the arms industry the state authorities are more or less silent on its issues. It is obvious however that the problems in them go beyond technical trouble. In an interview for the Bulgarian National Radio, a trade union leader from Podkrepa Labor Confederation even remarked that currently competent authorities were making great efforts to keep the arms business within the scope of state control. And the control of the state in this sector is of paramount importance for economic and mostly political reasons. This is confirmed by frequent speculations and allegations about irregular supplies of specialized production to some very sensitive markets. Even yesterday while explaining the situation at EMKO, the minister of economy did not miss to refute allegations that jihadists in Syria had shelled Aleppo with missiles made by the state-owned VMZ (Vazov machine-building works) in the town of Sopot, Central Southern Bulgaria.

It is baffling to see problems in the arms industry at a moment when after a long period of stagnation it has been revived, and according to some analysts has started to grow – something not seen in other sectors. In official figures the total worth of the output of the Bulgarian defense industry came to a mere 200 million euro three years ago, while in 2015 it was already to the tune of 645 million euro. No official figures are available for 2016, but in unofficial estimates its worth last year was somewhere close to 1 billion US dollars. During the first six months of this year state military enterprises have continued improving their financial results and hiring new workers. In all honesty this development is the consequence of spreading military conflicts and rearmament in volatile regions including the Middle East, India and North Africa. However deals are under the strict control of theInterdepartmental Council for the Defense Industry and Security of Supplies, and there are no supplies to countries for which there is a ban or where a conflict is active. In this context only the state has the capacity to guarantee that this process will remain like this.

English Daniela Konstantinova