Where is Bulgaria's government heading and who is who in the cabinet. Is Boyko Borisov just an ordinary MP… Political scientist Kaloyan Metodiev speaks to FAKTI.
- Mr. Metodiev, you were a deputy for a while. What is it like to be just a deputy in the Bulgarian parliament? What is required of an ordinary deputy as a job…
- The first is to be elected honestly. When you have bought votes, committees, rewrote protocols, turned off video surveillance, etc. you are not elected, you owe nothing to anyone, you have no commitment to this society. You have to reproduce your schemes for the next time through the budget, through public procurement.
You are a criminal, a nothing.
There are also some who come in only for immunities. I say this in the context of the current parliament. An honestly elected MP must work for the national interest and for his constituency. To have political experience, because this has also become a huge problem - specialists are sought everywhere, and politics, governance are seen as something that is elementary, a show, entertainment. This is a gross mistake. An MP must introduce laws, implement models, control the executive branch, communicate with the public through meetings, interviews, defend positions, read and write… This is a quick sketch of the ideal and our projections.
- I ask you this because we also heard from the leader of GERB Boyko Borisov that he is just an MP… How do you view this?
- We've been hearing this for 24 years. He was just a chief secretary of the Ministry of Interior in the NMSV-DPS government, but he had crushed and depersonalized Petkanov as a minister. If we listen to him and believe him, it turns out that Borisov only appears on the GERB lists as some kind of quota for himself and from then on he sits quietly in parliament and waits for lunch to come so he can go to the canteen. This is in the realm of jokes. How patient will our people be to be played with such sketches? He gives briefings in parliament every day, appears on the evening news, from where he enters every house, gives or takes support with votes... Is he just a deputy? Or is he a mandate holder, the father of the "Borisov 5" government and the winner of the last elections. Never mind that there is a record number of complaints filed against them in the Constitutional Court for their annulment due to falsifications.
- At the same time, GERB, BSP and ITN are the main parties in the ruling coalition. With the support of Dogan's MRF, of course. But how did this happen - again Borisov's words that GERB has become a crutch for the BSP and ITN…
- Because you asked me what it is like to be an MP. I will tell you a story that I heard in parliament. It is about the previous BSP Congress, which I think was in February 2023. A group, led by Kiril Dobrev, is trying to break into the hall, pushing, pushing the security, trying to break down the door, occupying the rostrum… Terrible thing, it was seen on all the news. The next day, Borisov stated to several people, personally addressing Kornelia Ninova: "Well, that Kircho told me that they would be able to replace you at Congress, and they couldn't, because you were elected directly." This answers the question of who and how, for years, has been controlling and coordinating the dismantling of party after party, the destruction of the party system, feeding internal opposition (with holes, posts, public procurements...), ordering compromising material and slander. And the list of parties for which Borisov has been a "crutch" is so long - SDS, RZS, ABV, "Gergyovden", Mareshki, Reformists, nationalists of all kinds, and now BSP and ITN... "The crutch" stands, and all its users in politics are dead or half-dead.
- Borisov did not know the Minister of Finance and was not responsible, because he is not a factor, but only an MP. Since when has it been like this…
- The “Ordinary“ MP is the leader of the party holding the mandate. The “Ordinary“ MP announced that there will be a coalition with the BSP and the ITN, days before the BSP even gathered any bodies and made such a decision. The “Ordinary“ MP says that he will tolerate the cabinet until January 1. The “Ordinary“ MP says that he will not support the regulators if they do not tell him who nominated Rosen Karadimov. The “Ordinary“ MP says that first the budget will be adopted, and then there will be appointments. The “Ordinary“ MP refuses to replace Angelov as chairman of the coalition council for the distribution of posts, as MRF-Dogan wants. Here are enough examples of how a supposedly “ordinary” MP determines what should or should not happen to the state. Borisov refuses to take responsibility, knows no one, and in fact pulls all the strings.
It is not right for a 66-year-old man to act like a circus performer and lie to the people so elementary.
Clearly Borisov wants to remain in the white and not bear responsibility for the unpopular government. I read analyses that he plans to run for president next year. Entire epochs will happen in the coming months.
- We hear from the BSP and ITN that now is not the time for elections, but do these parties know who the finance minister is...
- These are two very strange cases, but also dangerous. The two formations that swore “never” with Borisov, entered a coalition with him. The deception is one thing. What is worse is the way these parties function, because the lives of citizens, the economy, security, budget, every sphere, depend on them, as rulers. The BSP chairman is semi-illegal, elected nearly a month ago, neither elects a leadership, nor appears publicly, nor does anything… He rules alone and authoritarianly somewhere from the shadows.
Social policy is their portfolio, and this is the most anti-social budget in decades.
Everyone calls them BSP-New Beginning – a mailbox for proposals for regulators and votes. The second case is that of Slavi Trifonov, about whom we know nothing. It reminds me of the scandals years ago in Japan, where for years they hid deceased relatives-pensioners in order to take their pensions. This man has not appeared publicly in years.
How do you govern a country with posts on Facebook?
Does he write them? In what condition is he, physically, mentally, to be responsible for the people?
You see that the government looks increasingly surreal when you arrange the subjects that make up it and their characteristics next to each other. It is not known who is where, who is responsible, who hires people, who is responsible for what. Some ministers are inarticulate, out of place, have no experience. These are all characteristics of bad government.
- Currently, a big topic in parliament is the budget. We will borrow, but we will still have a deficit, with the goal being the Eurozone. What should people know about the Eurozone. Can someone explain how our lives will become better…
- The budget is anti-national – it hits social payments, vulnerable groups, families, small and medium-sized businesses and, to top it off, it restricts civil rights. At the same time, it generously benefits those in power – a 12% increase in MP salaries, a government plane and helicopter, which is a luxury, drastic increases in the budgets of DATO (for wiretapping), the National Security and Transport Agency, the Supreme Judicial Council, the Constitutional Court, law enforcement agencies, etc. That is, in essence this budget is unfair to the people and does not bring growth. Only repression and luxury. And constantly expanding loans planned internally - there were 17 billion, now there is talk of 19 billion. Feathers appear and disappear. Bulgaria, upon joining the EU in 2007, agreed to adopt the euro like Greece and Croatia. This will happen. The question is when and in what way. There is a lot of speculation about the real inflation data. The people should not bear any price from speculators, disloyal traders. There is a lack of information, especially among the older population. Germany is entering a recession, and it is our main foreign trade partner. The US is imposing duties and tariffs, which will also be a blow to our economy, our exports are constantly falling. How will the entry of individual industries - tourism, for example, affect the prices there... This is something that needs to be calmly explained and debated. Nothing should be at any cost.
- At the same time, Bulgaria will lose 653 million euros (one billion and three hundred million leva) under the Recovery and Sustainability Plan, and from every ruler in the last 4 years we hear that he was not at fault. Who will bear responsibility?
- Responsibility is usually transferred to the previous one. Now we are governed by the coalition GERB, BSP-OL, ITN and DPS-Dogan. Before that, there were two caretaker cabinets: “Glavchev“, elected to head the Court of Auditors by GERB, and their senior cadre, who massively appointed cadres of the same party to the supposedly caretaker cabinet. Before that, there was a cabinet of the Sglobkata - GERB, PP-DB and DPS-Peevski. Before that, there were two service cabinets of Galab Donev, which, according to the OSCE international report (October 2022), worked in the elections in favor of GERB and DPS against the then BSP, PP and DB. One party has been running in all 6 last governments, regardless of the different configurations. But, of course, the others are to blame.
You had a majority and time to change the constitution, but you didn't have the money to restore the Bulgarian economy, right?
You have a majority now to change regulators for years to come and the Supreme Judicial Council, and you are not responsible for that? It was not a priority for them. That's it.
- The world is tearing Ukraine apart, and Bulgaria is missing from the meetings in Paris, now in London. Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov joined a conference call at the second meeting in Paris. What is Bulgaria's position on Ukraine…
- It is unknown. We hear mixed signals from the presidency, the government, the coalition partners... A National Security Advisory Council (NSAC) has not been held to come up with a common position on serious issues - will NATO disintegrate, or on the common European army. Where are we in these processes? It is worrying that we were not invited to the meeting on Ukraine in London, and our two big neighbors were there - Romania and Turkey. We are the center of the Balkans. Nothing in the region should happen without us - that is why we are a country. Everyone is already talking about peace, the question is how and when it will be worked out to stop the war and freeze the conflict. These are major processes, they do not depend on us. But crises create opportunities for the brave, analytical and quick. If a common European army is going to be created, we must participate in the interest of our economy and security. We have military traditions, culturally Bulgarians are the best soldiers and officers together with the Turks in Southeast Europe. This has been proven historically. Many mistakes were made - Borisov bought 8 F-16 aircraft, Radev bought 8 more. Logistics, expensive maintenance are needed, ungodly money was given up front, and there is no infrastructure for them. In Europe, there is already talk of stopping all military supplies from the United States and canceling orders. Here is an example of short-sighted policy, of wrong and expensive decisions at the expense of the Bulgarian people. Decisions based on the personal interest of certain politicians, not on the basis of the national one. One day they are Tri-Morists, Bidenists, Trumpists, giving dogs as gifts, on Friday they are photographed without Ukrainian flags, on Monday they return them after the elections in Germany, they say one thing abroad and another in the country... Comprador politics is always and always at the expense of the people. (b.r.- “Comprador“ is a Portuguese term that originated in the Portuguese colony of Macau and in Southeast China in the 19th century. Initially, it referred to local people who were servants of the colonists and were sent to the markets to sell goods on behalf of their masters. Later, comprador were called local managers of foreign trading companies. Despite the ideological contamination of this concept by Marxism-Leninism, the neoliberal model of globalization, which escalated after the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet bloc, gave new meaning to this term. Today, “compradors“ and “comprador“ are often used to refer to those national politicians, intellectuals and social groups who serve, consciously or in the role of “useful idiots“, one of the main goals of neoliberal globalism - the disintegration of the national country.)