"The question is not whether there is a chance to save the money under the PVU, but whether there is a desire. In the current decisions of the government of Rosen Zhelyazkov, I do not see a desire to save the plan, but I see a desire to transfer its failure to someone in the past. A typical partisan political line, extremely frivolous and irresponsible at the current moment. Without a desire on the part of a government, there is no way the money can be saved".
This was stated to the Bulgarian National Radio by MEP Radan Kanev, a representative of the PP-DB in the European Parliament.
"Bulgarian governments - from the then ruling cabinet of Borissov, through caretaker, two short-lived regular governments to the current cabinet of Rosen Zhelyazkov - have made a cascade of mistakes that lead to the risk of ending up as the country that managed to invest the least money in recovery and sustainability plans in all of Europe. A large part of these mistakes are due to the political crisis and catastrophic populist decisions that were made with an overwhelming majority in several Bulgarian parliaments," he commented and wondered why Kiril Petkov was being blamed.
According to him, the idea that a recovery plan can be adopted that does not include reforms is absurd. This is money for reforms, the MEP emphasized.
"In terms of decarbonization, Bulgaria achieved the lowest target in all of Europe. We extremely successfully negotiated very small commitments from the Bulgarian governments in order to receive the funds in the "Energy" sector. Then came early elections and the entire parliament in a populist frenzy adopted a decision that blocked any further actions in this direction, as a result of which further steps for investing this money were also blocked. This is just one of many examples of political irresponsibility".
The fate of the money under the recovery and sustainability plans that has not been used has not been decided, Kanev assured and explained:
"We do not know what will happen to this money. The proposal that we are making with our colleagues from the Bulgarian delegation in the EPP is that all this money should be the basis of the future financial package for ensuring security and defense. The outrageous in many respects policy on the recovery plans so far and the rather unsustainable policy of the current government still do not mean that this money has been lost for Bulgaria.
In the program "Nedelya 150" Radan Kanev also commented on the meeting between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office. In his words, it has shown that our environment and perception of security and the world in which we live has been radically changed.
"For 3 and more decades, we have been living in a world in which we have the peace of mind that the military superpower of the United States guarantees peace in Europe. Now we are starting to live in a world where this guarantee is gone".
According to him, we must make quick decisions to guarantee our security today - tomorrow - the day after tomorrow. These are decisions that can be made, he is categorical, but he added that they require Europe to be united:
"It is strong, rich, but it is not united. We must harness this potential that we have in guarantees for our security. Otherwise, we will lose everything".
The MEP believes that we must insist that Bulgaria be part of this policy. There will be many meetings on European security yet, and many of them will not be in a format that includes the 27 member states, he expressed his opinion.
Innovations are a huge driver of economic progress, Kanev noted. According to him, countries that invest much more in defense are much ahead of us in innovation and technology.
Poland spends over 4% of its GDP on defense, he gave an example and added that the Polish economy is the strongest in Eastern Europe, having turned defense into a powerful engine of its industrial production and its social system.
"The logic that if we invest in security and defense, we become poorer, clashes with the facts and turns into outright stupidity. Countries that invest in their security not only become much more attractive for investment, but also very powerfully drive innovation and technology"
According to him, Europe must subordinate its budget, industry and energy to security considerations. According to him, a very difficult conversation is ahead from now on:
"We want Europe to take out a common loan to ensure its common security. This is a controversial issue in European institutions and between European countries. This is not an easy topic. We want to create a problematic debate from which we can come up with a smart solution. This debate is just beginning and will continue in the coming weeks and months. My hope is that it will not last too long".
The renewable energy sector is a very important element of our security, the MEP also said. He explained that this energy does not create external dependencies, but it is not sufficient. According to him, renewable sources will have their greater role yet. He noted the need for investments in energy storage and stressed the importance of nuclear energy.
For Kanev, the "Green Deal" should be revised as an "Industrial Deal".
"We are in a completely new security environment. We must subordinate our industrial policy to the new conditions", he was categorical.
Trump's request that he would start negotiations with Putin, without the participation of Europe and Ukraine, on the fate of Ukraine, the Munich Conference and the summit on artificial intelligence were a series of epochal events that require Europe and Bulgaria to change their policies fundamentally, he expressed his opinion.
The MEP believes that if we are brave enough in our policies, we will not find ourselves in a situation - Europe against the USA and Russia. The moment Europe shows that it is united, it is not threatened by the East, he was categorical.
"In the Kremlin, the imperial mentality has never left. The big change is the emergence of an imperial mentality in Washington. This is something we are not used to. We are faced with the enormous risk of once again looking at the world in imperial-colonial categories. The question is how Europe, which knows this way of thinking best and which has suffered the most, will react.
In his words, there are no big or small in this new situation:
"Bulgaria is not small at all. We are on the eastern front of the EU, in a vulnerable situation. It has its own huge role. If there is anything small, it is the mentality of the people who govern it.".