The deputies return to work, the president hands over the first mandate to GERB… Where is Bulgaria headed, but now with the official currency of the euro… Political scientist Kaloyan Metodiev speaks to FACTI.
- Mr. Metodiev, the leader of GERB Boyko Borisov announced that they will return the mandate to form a government after President Rumen Radev handed it to them. Why does the leading party not want to try a second cabinet in this parliament…
- Borisov is the king of denial, self-denial, hiding thoughts, mimicry, ambiguities. In the same sentence he can say two opposite things that he supports. And in the next one I will deny them. How can he not want to form a cabinet when he said that the government was successful? Why is he returning the mandate when he is the mandate holder? Their de facto coalition was five-member - GERB-SDS, MPS-NN, BSP-OL, ITN and several independent MPs who joined the majority. They have a solid mathematical majority. Apart from GERB, the others do not want elections. The answer is fear. Of two things. The first is the protests that forced the government to resign. The second is to save himself from Peevski. Borisov is panickingly returning the mandate because of the protests and Peevski. It is not from a good heart. Now the GERB leader is faced with the question of what new configuration to hide in, who to “strangle”, how to fight back. Nothing new.
- Who suffered what damage from the participants in this coalition?
- BSP and ITN are in a coma. They entered this government after a ruthless election lie that they would never be with GERB, even Slavi Trifonov would have beaten them. The BSP lied throughout the campaign, they even signed a cordon sanitaire against Peevski. These parties are liars in the eyes of their voters. What normal and self-respecting person would vote for a party that has lied to them brazenly and horribly? And then governed ruthlessly. And in the end they were thrown out with protests. These are the ones who suffered the most. Let's call them the corpses, the BSP and ITN. Borisov, as was seen in the by-elections in Pazardzhik, came in only 6th, so I think his results will seriously drop. The MRF is a scheme and there is no way to know what will happen there, because we are talking about clientele, not an electorate. But they are a function of the specific host. In this case, GERB, BSP, ITN... They are not great in themselves. The myth is only theirs big.
- GERB, BSP and ITN were very different, but the strategic goals have been achieved – Schengen and the Eurozone… We heard this from Borisov. Is that right?
- They are very similar. The strategic goals have been discussed for years. Borisov delayed Schengen by a decade. Back in 2011, he said that all that was left was to paint one building and we would be in. Düner was protecting us. But it got bogged down in corruption (according to EU reports), tragic border security and the construction of a ridiculous fence that is not even suitable for a tomato garden. A new one needs to be built! Other governments have completed the Schengen process. For the Eurozone too.
Borisov is the problem of us being in last place in all indicators in the European Union.
In recent years, only Rumen Radev has been campaigning publicly for the Eurozone, and his caretaker governments moved the documents. Borisov is making a fuss over other people's pies.
- Everyone in the government says they did well, but forgets that the court defined the elections as “not very fair“…
- The Constitutional Court checked only 2,000 out of a total of 7,000 sections with irregularities submitted by us. So many violations came out of these sections alone that 16 deputies were expelled. It has been proven that GERB, MRF and BSP are losing deputies. These parties entered the parliament, gained a majority, and governed. Their genesis is criminal. For me, all of their appointments are illegitimate. And they will have to be revised. Down to the last person.
If they were successful managers, they would not have brought people to the streets all over the country in unprecedented peaceful protests. I emphasize throughout the country.
We gave them the assessment of the hundreds of thousands in the squares. We removed them! We haven't removed them yet, but we removed them. There is talk that they will open the Electoral Code. Only two things need to be added there: to prohibit parties from participating in elections that have been proven by the court to have falsified the vote and to have video surveillance in the polling stations as evidence in court.
- The BSP announced a congress in early February to “unite the party“. Is there any left left in Bulgaria?
- These are some kind of ball of scandals, business interests, groups, unprincipledness. They have no basic political characteristics - they lie before elections, buy votes, only privileges for a whole year, they slaughtered themselves, they managed their departments in a disgraceful manner - roads, water (water shortages and floods), social policy, sports... Now they are arguing about some kind of congress. They do not have a single left or social trait, along with the other 30 marginal parties with whom they are in coalition. They have one false label left. Brazen deputies pretend to be opposition with retroactive effect, clinging to the protests. Maya Manolova and Rumen Petkov, who are part of the ruling coalition, pretend to be opposition to themselves through the media and social networks. In Sofia, they are part of the "economic majority". It is ridiculous, even a pity. Anarchy is there. They are not important.
The shareholders from GERB and DPS should deal with this mess.
I see that there is a big movement in the direction of “Unruly Bulgaria“ as a new party with a clear statesman profile, stability, management capacity, young and new people, categoricalness, zero compromises towards Borisov and Peevski. There is nothing else in the center-left.
- Are Bulgarians richer now that they are holding euros in their hands. How do you view the currency changeover process?
- They cannot become richer in two weeks. The process is not going smoothly. Some greedy speculators are using the situation to raise prices - parking from 2 leva to 2 euros, haircuts, food prices. The rulers are also speculating - water up 12% without explanation, ID cards up 40%. Taxis and school meals have become more expensive. The transitional period is being used. Some banks are illegally charging fees to accept people's leva.
Banks are not allowed to charge a single penny as a fee until June 30. Whoever reads this should tell their loved ones.
People are not as simple as some make them out to be. Even the oldest people navigate with banknotes and coins. We are not inferior to other Europeans. Our pensioners are not stupid, as they are being made out to be in this situation, but the majority are digital, with profiles on social networks, they read, watch and adapt quickly. The issue of income comes to the fore. And dealing with greedy speculators.
- Elections in March or April. What will be new with them?
- The elections come after unprecedented protests. This is important to say. During this government, many masks have fallen. BSP and ITN have no face to go to elections. UDF, the former party of freedom, has declared itself against the protests!
Borisov was pretending to be in opposition to his own government, he wants to play with everyone and entangle them. But his tricks have worn out.
Peevski changed the ethnic composition and geography of the MRF, he is under heavy international sanctions, hundreds of thousands are chanting against him, he cannot walk on the street…
These are parties whose leaders live apart from the people like drug cartel bosses!
Torn from real life. This is an anti-European model. Their power is compromised. The ministers are straw men. Revelations about their outrages during their rule are yet to come out. A few days ago, they changed the management of the “Silver Fund“, which is very worrying for future and current pensioners. They are resigning! There is no way the picture will be static. There will be shifts. The train has left. The division is who is “for“ and who is “against“ the model.
And one parenthesis. These days I am reading Cicero “On the Republic“. It says that liars are worse than those who bribe with money, because you cannot buy an honest person with money, but you can deceive him. In the elections, look at who lied to you! The probability that he will deceive you is still very high. Vote safely! I say this for honest and valiant people.
- Everyone is looking at President Radev, but apparently the time “when we least expect it“ has not yet come for him to announce whether he is entering politics. Elections without his party, what new will they offer us?
- Radev has gone too far with this game of parties, mystery, I want - I don't want, I do - I don't do…
He didn't come out to say - “… I will serve out my term, for which I was elected, I will abide by the Constitution and the law. Period!“
This is responsible and statesmanlike behavior. He doesn't have time to form another party, but if he decides to decide, he will use some crutches.
So whatever he does, it will be some kind of replacement.
It won't be his party, he can't lead it personally. And when the time comes for him to sit in the studio, go to a debate, say who he'll form a coalition with, and imagine the candidates, it could happen that he'll quickly fall apart. He's being pushed around by a few people around him who want to get a job. He should emphasize that. In addition, they've labeled him as having a lot of money. We've been listening to Mr. Cash for three years, rooms with cash, sacks, roads on Koprinka. This has attracted the interest of the biggest social scum in him, the criminals in politics. They all look at him like a piggy bank. They want his money. He knows that I've always told him the truth to his face. The situation isn't working for him anymore. He missed the moment. He might shift something, but he won't make a big deal out of it. And he's already started handing out mandates. How will you appear in a competition where you are the referee?
- We have a “home book“ for the election of an acting prime minister, but no one wants it. What follows from this…
- They stated that they do not want half. The others are silent. I see that those gravitating around the PP-DB are pushing for Andrey Gyurov, while GERB and MRF analysts are again campaigning for Glavchev. There will be an acting prime minister. The two institutions where the excitement is going on are the Court of Auditors and the Bulgarian National Bank. I do not rule out two more names from there. Negotiations are underway with the presidency.