The disputed rule that would ban people from holding homemade rakia that isn't theirs will be rewritten so it can't be read two ways, finance minister Galub Donev told parliament. The goal, he said, is to stop people selling alcohol of unknown origin.
Opposition lawmakers from Democratic Bulgaria raised the issue, asking the minister whether the government would drop the plan to ban holding rakia that belongs to someone else.
The rule was put forward because customs officers keep finding large amounts of fake alcohol, including in beauty salons.
Donev said the experts behind the plan actually had something else in mind: banning the sale of rakia at hair salons, guesthouses and car repair shops. "That's exactly what the experts were aiming for — to ban the sale of rakia at hair salons, guesthouses, car repair shops...," he said.
The minister said customs finds large amounts of alcohol at exactly these kinds of places. "You find it funny, but these are the places where customs finds large amounts of alcohol," Donev told the lawmakers.