The Minister of Culture Marian Bachev did the only possible thing and our partners from UNESCO showed full understanding and support for saving the Bulgarian hosting of the 47th session of the World Heritage Committee. This was stated in a declaration on behalf of the parliamentary group of "There is such a people", the chairman of the group, Toshko Yordanov.
The text of the declaration states that the organization of the forum is not financially secured in the 2024 budget and would cost more than 15 million leva.
No hosting agreement has been signed with UNESCO, which is subject to ratification by the National Assembly. The deadline for signing was November 6, 2018, or eight months before the start of the event. There is no such agreement. There is an irreversible delay in the organizational deadlines, the declaration says, and it is pointed out that the reported activities are formally technical and are only inspections of halls and online conversations. The declaration says that due to the lack of a budget, the work stops there. In mid-November last year, the first preparatory mission of UNESCO experts was carried out with members of the organizing committee, which never meets again and in which there are no representatives of the Ministry of Finance. The UNESCO delegation requested that the National Palace of Culture be re-equipped with new sound and lighting equipment that would meet the requirements - and how can this be done, when there is no money provided, nor is there time, asked Yordanov.
"In this established, idiotic situation of total inaction and negligence, Marian Bachev, in his capacity as Minister of Culture for a month and a half, did the only possible thing. The assessment of the situation showed that there is not enough capacity and human resources that can be mobilized in such a short period of time. Our partners from UNESCO showed full understanding and support and immediately began consultations on what best can be done to save the Bulgarian household at the 47th session of the World Heritage Committee, because it was categorically established that in this short period of time no country can do anything with the construction of infrastructure. This is the assessment of our partners from UNESCO. South Korea wants to run for the session in 2026 and is working from now on," said Yordanov.
Bulgarian politics is an interesting and unfortunate thing, because very often emblematic sycophants, for whom talking on television or from this podium is an emanation of their pathetic dreams in their already meager life path, said Toshko Yordanov at the beginning of the declaration. Previously, again in a declaration, "Vazrazhdane" stated that the refusal to host the 47th session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee is "a diplomatic and cultural disgrace".
The declaration recalls that the proposal for Bulgaria to host the 47th session of the World Heritage Committee was sent in a letter to the Minister of Culture on July 29 last year. The decision of the Council of Ministers was made in absentia and with a financial justification that the hosting is not related to consequences for the budget, which, in the words of Yordanov, is "absolute idiocy". The UNESCO session is an event in which between 2,000 and 4,000 senior state representatives, international officials and experts from all over the world participate, for whom Bulgaria must provide visas, halls for the session and accompanying events, catering and much more. Preparations for an event of this magnitude should begin immediately after the host is determined, and it was determined on July 29 last year. What has happened since then can be said simply - "absolutely nothing", Yordanov pointed out.
The costs of organizing the forum in Sofia would amount to 4 million US dollars - and that's just for the technical organization. For comparison, about 10 million US dollars were spent for the session in New Delhi in 2024. Second - former Minister of Culture Naiden Todorov submitted a report on the topic to the Council of Ministers, telling the Ministry of Finance that hosting the forum is not related to a financial commitment. Interestingly, this same Naiden Todorov admitted in an interview on March 2 last year that there were no funds allocated for UNESCO in the 2024 budget, because it came as a bit of a surprise, Yordanov pointed out. In his words, in plain text it sounds like this - a decision has been made for UNESCO, without any pre-secured financial capacity.
Before the start of the meeting, Manol Peykov from "We Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria" also commented on the topic, insisting that the Ministry of Culture and the Prime Minister explain the failure of the UNESCO hosting by the end of the day.