The battle for president between Andrey Gyurov and Iliana Yotova is also about Bulgaria's foreign policy direction. This was said in the program "Face to Face" on BTV by MEP Nikola Minchev.
With Andrey Gyurov, we see a clearer position on where Bulgaria stands and that it should be an active member of the European Union and NATO, an active member with a clear position. With Yotova, we have a much more vague position, which is sold to us as balanced, but is actually contradictory. This is a significant discrepancy between the two positions. I am more impressed by Gyurov's position, because I also want to see our country there – in the European Union and NATO. What Yotova is proposing to us rather leaves us on the periphery of the European integration processes, said Gyurov.
The president should be critical of certain actions of the government. There is much to be done in this direction. There is much more to the powers of the head of state than appointing a caretaker government, added the MEP.
Asked whether he agreed with the words of GERB leader Boyko Borisov that a common candidate for the right should have been nominated, he indicated: "I do not agree. Such an agreement with GERB would rather repel voters because it would leave the feeling of a new assembly. I do not think that this would be the right approach - what Borisov is proposing would not work".
He also commented in connection with the topics that have come to the fore in recent days about the "Petrohan" case and the pardon by the president and candidate for head of state Iliana Yotova of Ognyan Atanasov, known as the Petrich Escobar. The decision was made by Yotova in her capacity as vice president at the end of 2022.
The issue of pardoning – not only of the Petrich Escobar, is a matter of exercising presidential powers, exercising the power that we will give into the hands of one or another pair of candidates. This is a completely legitimate conversation for a presidential candidate campaign. While for me it is a complete mystery what the other scandal has to do with it – about – – "Petrohan", with Andrey Gyurov. Even if there was money donated by the mayor of Sofia Vasil Terziev, this does not constitute a crime, and it has no bearing on either the presidential candidate or the vice-presidential candidate, Nikola Minchev pointed out.
He also said that the elections in Germany show that in the former eastern provinces the ultimate wins – the far right and the far left.
This victory comes as a disappointment from the current German government, which created a difficult coalition. In order to create a cordon sanitaire around the far right, they enter into complex coalitions in which the parties have difficulty finding a common language. At this point, every mistake by the government comes as a victory for the far right. Something similar is happening in Austria. This is a problem that the traditional right must solve by understanding where we are not addressing the problems correctly, Minchev emphasized.