Today Academician Nikolay Denkov is expected to take the folder from the president and return it empty. This was stated by the co-chairman of "We continue the change" Kiril Petkov and added that there is no point in the third term. He called for the elections to be “2 in 1“ – pre-term parliamentary and for the European Parliament. Why did it come to this situation… Sociologist Mira Radeva spoke to FAKTI.
- Mrs. Radeva, what led to the collapse of the “assembly” and going to new elections. Who failed to achieve what for themselves among the participants in management?
- From the very beginning, there was doubt as to how these people, who felt so much hatred for each other, we heard such denial in the election campaign, how they would be able to work... Even, in my opinion, we were pleasantly surprised that for a certain period of time there was a lull and the idea crept in that there might be peace and some kind of acceptance. I think that politics is a struggle, a struggle, an opposition, but there is also a moment when you have to accept the evaluations that the voter has given you and from there on work both for your voters and for everyone. You just have to please your supporters and everyone with your work until the elections. And what have we seen in the last three years – they are a waste of time, a stalling of projects, a feeling of being stuck in one place. We really hoped that the management would work, and until the end both I and other experts thought that somehow “the assembly“ it will be. And this is because it simply does not make any sense to go to elections.
- “Delkanet“ didn't it happen to the state so that the parties in the “assembly“ are satisfied?
- It is already obvious to everyone that PP-DB want all the power. They operated on the principle of arm twisting. But they forgot one essential point that we have seen in these nine months of government. PP-DB ruled with the support of GERB and DPS. And even if they say such things that Maria Gabriel was “the most beautiful face of the mafia”, those words made it easier because GERB and DPS were the parties that supported them in the votes. It was natural at this rotation that GERB and DPS, who supported them, said: “Wait now. It can to some extent, but it can't to infinity…“ In my opinion, it was precisely the demands of the PP-DB to have 100% power in the regulators, to continue the reform of the judicial system, that spoiled things. PP wanted to have a monopoly on power, which GERB had certainly secured before. PP said: “Until now it was you, now it will be us!“ To me PP are not democrats, they just accept that power means “… these are my people, these are your people”. This is what the battle is about.
- And at the same time, we regularly hear that “power is not at any price”. Right?
- These are stories for the audience. Who believes them! Tell me who believes them? People see what's going on.
- Kiril Petkov announced that he wants a “2 in 1“ and the president was on the move…
- There is such a moment here. There may be friction between PP and DB. DB have a solid electorate. If DB say that they will be on an independent list in the European elections, because there are different parties in DB, and PP, it is not clear what they are. DB are members of the EPP, and if they are on separate lists, PP's result may drop a lot. The PP is clearly playing to be together in the European elections, because that way they can keep their agreement with the DB.
- We are going to elections. What positions are the parties starting from at the moment…
- If we believe the sociologists, and I believe them, I think the worst thing is that everyone enters with very low positions. This is the true result of these battles, of this wasted time of three years. It's just that people say to themselves: “Look, there is no chance of us achieving anything in this country, because they cannot understand each other.“ For me, the most important thing is that people will probably turn away from voting even more, and at the same time, people should feel democracy as their own. In Bulgaria, people live with the feeling that democracy does not belong to the people, but is due to certain elites who fight among themselves. Sociologists say that GERB are in the best position, and PP-DB are leaving. But it will be a pyrrhic victory for GERB if they win again. A pyrrhic victory, because what if they win GERB, since the situation will be the same as we were in 9 months ago. And what? The situation of the BSP is difficult because they are in a battle with "Revival". As far as I understand, the president seems to have withdrawn from doing any kind of party, or at the moment he has no desire. So in one election, who knows what kind of change we won't get. The only thing that seems to me to be a relatively positive effect is that in elections “2 in 1“ there will be an increase in voter turnout a little more. Thus, more people will also vote for the European elections. People in Bulgaria are traditionally not interested in the European Parliament elections. But let's say that this attitude is quite similar to the situation in all European countries. Everywhere in the elections for the European Parliament, significantly fewer voters participate, because the European institutions seem to the people of the entire European Union to be somehow quite distant and quite incomprehensible, and in this sense also uninteresting.