Parliament rejects hearing into highway pile-up as nation mourns 11 dead
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A national day of mourning is being observed for the 11 people killed in an 86-vehicle pile-up on the Trakia highway. A Romanian driver has been arrested, but the investigation has moved quickly toward the road itself. The government reportedly scrapped a project to install fog warning signs on the stretch where the crash occurred; the highway has since reopened to traffic, which is currently moving through dense fog.
The disaster has provoked the usual political reflex. Parliament rejected a formal hearing into the accident while opposition parties demanded the government resign. Boyko Borissov, the former prime minister, suggested a more literal solution to the optics of the crisis: a law that would simply prohibit politicians from speaking during national emergencies.
The finance ministry is meanwhile looking for revenue, signaling support for a windfall tax on energy firms and a super-profit tax that would hit food retailers and their distributors. Parents, at least, were spared the bill: MPs voted unanimously to approve new tax relief measures for families.