Ivan Takov, chairman of the group of municipal councilors from "BSP for Bulgaria", in an interview for "Focus" "This is Bulgaria"
The newly elected BSP-Sofia City Council decided at its first meeting that the chairman of the group of municipal councilors "BSP for Bulgaria” in SOS, Ivan Takov to be replaced by the newly elected leader of the capital's socialists, Diana Tonova. A few hours later, the municipal councilors from "BSP for Bulgaria" rejected the recommendation of the BSP City Council to replace Ivan Takov with Diana Tonova, and the current chairman of the group retains his post. This decision was taken unanimously at a meeting that was not attended by Diana Tonova and Ivan Vidolov.
Why did the new management take on your replacement as their first task?
You ask a very interesting and good question. I think there are much more important things for the new leadership to do, namely preparing for the upcoming 2 in 1 elections. But as I observed at the conference on Sunday where this new leadership was elected, the conference was not really about no political issues, only organizational and administrative ones, which is not a good indicator, especially given that in less than 10 days we are entering an election campaign.
And what happened? Did the BSP councilors blame Ninova?
It turned out that the BSP councilors gave me a vote of confidence, as the group's chairman, which means that they are clearly satisfied with my work and what we have done together so far in the last few years. So this is perhaps an assessment of the general work of the group of advisers, for which I personally thanked them.
How will you deal with the management's persistence and their press releases in favor of Diana Tonova?
I don't intend to go to war with press releases at all. We have plenty of work to do in the City Council, of course, and during the elections. But let's say this: what happened to a legitimate decision from February of the National Council, which made this extraordinary reporting-election cycle in the City Organization, is extremely disturbing. And I even said at the beginning that this is sabotage of the European elections, and at the moment we have elections 2 in 1. And instead of the strongest, the largest, the City Organization of the BSP-Sofia dealing with the preparation of the elections, with holding in the elections themselves, we continue to deal with intra-party battles and that is why our result is at this level.
Here, look what we did. In April of this year, in the elections, the national elections for parliament, in Sofia, the leaders won 7% in total for the lists. We managed to mobilize and unite for the local elections in 2023. We made the local coalition and united the entire left in Sofia and the result in just 6 months was a doubling of this result to 14% for our lists for municipal councilors. And right now with what's going on and all the disunity and the apparent inability of the party leadership to unify, and the only thing it's done over the years is to divide, I'm very worried that the result will go back to those 6-7- 8%, which is not good for the BSP and the left, of course, in general.
In the decision of the meeting of the councilors in the Metropolitan Municipal Council of the "BSP for Bulgaria" concern is expressed by, I quote: “the interference of the BSP's close leadership in the decisions of the group". How will you work going forward is the question, because they will interfere with you, thinking that as management they have the right to do so?
The leadership of... the narrow party leadership has not stopped interfering even before the elections, during and after the elections, but not in a constructive way. In fact, the chairman and a small group around her were perhaps one of the fiercest opponents of the local coalition we made in Sofia and of our candidate for mayor. Therefore, I personally have never allowed such interference in the work, since the group is experienced enough and it is within its powers to make a decision, and each municipal councilor for himself is elected directly by the people and has the opportunity to make his decisions.
But it was very important to note, as we have always maintained, that local politics is the work of local party structures. Therefore, the interference from the national leadership and this staring at both the City Council and the City Organization of the BSP-Sofia is extremely worrying for me, and at least I have not allowed interference in my work and in the work of the city organization. Unfortunately, it remains to be seen whether the new leadership will succumb to this pressure. I am afraid that yes, which is not good for the work both at the municipal level and at the city level.
In the same decision, it is alleged about the attempts of the leadership of the BSP for behind-the-scenes deals with representatives of other political groups behind your back, the municipal councilors from the "BSP for Bulgaria". What do you mean?
We mean that we learn from colleagues from other groups in the municipal council that some party leaders called them to make, I don't even know what, agreements. But the worrying thing is that it has been happening since the beginning. Here, I give you the following example. Immediately after the elections, we said that we were ready for talks with all groups from the municipal council, however, based on policies and priorities that we relayed to the citizens of Sofia before the elections. And in fact, then we found out that there were meetings with party leaders from "Positano", without the group of municipal councilors and the city management knowing about it, with attempts to make some kind of agreements, entering into coalitions, etc.
And this thing is probably still going on right now, and we categorically reject such a way of working. With us, everything has always been clear and in the light. As we have held meetings with the other groups, this has been reflected in the media, and it has been quite public, and it has been within the framework of the Metropolitan Municipal Council. Anything beyond that to us is backroom deals that we as a band will not allow to happen.
Is the BSP-Sofia incident symptomatic of the state of the left party?
Unfortunately, yes. BSP-Sofia had remained one of the few islands of free speech in the party as a whole. Apparently, some people didn't like this, so, perhaps also caused by the upcoming report-election campaign in the whole party, it was necessary to attack the strongest, the biggest and I would say the most independent organization so far within of BSP. And it was done in a really command-administrative way, with some liquidation groups in areas that decided for themselves which meetings were held, which delegates were to be broadcast, and we saw the result.
But I say again, this will not increase in any way the party's result and the party's confidence. It just ruins. I am a person who has always built bridges, not destroyed them, I cannot say the same for the party leadership. And that's why I said that in order for the BSP to move forward, it needs new people and new ideas. The unification of the left also passes through the unification within the party itself. And in this way, this is the only chance for Bulgaria to get out of the vicious cycle of assembly, disassembly, etc. - a strong united left.
Yes, but this left will appear in the elections with at least three lists. If the president did not stand behind any of them, would they have a chance?
I wish, of course, success to everyone. But in any case, I also said the “Buzludzha Movement", which we founded, and all my comrades from the City Organization, we work solely and only for the success of the BSP. I really wanted what we called for immediately after the elections, what we did in Sofia, to happen at the national level as well, namely a unification of the entire left in the country, to really achieve serious success and not we are talking about the BSP and the left as marginal parties that are fighting to enter the parliament or are in 5-6 place. And the left, the BSP, the left in Bulgaria should return to its rightful first place.
You know that BSP has always fought either for first place or came second as the main opposition force. And that's why what I can't understand is how strong an ambition must be in order to sacrifice an idea, and that's the left-wing idea, that's the BSP. And perhaps this ambition of some party leaders for their own survival has led to the state of the left being in decline right now across the country. Because you said, at the moment there will be at least three left-wing lists, which means that this fragmentation of left-wing voters may lead to the fact that the representation of left-wing people in Bulgaria is really marginal again.
I wonder, with so many party lists on the left, what would their political narrative be?
Look, we'll see. The BSP adopted its platform for both the European and national elections. These platforms are borrowed from the previous elections, they do not differ much in our ideas, including over the years we have also seen the "Left" the platforms, they are not very far apart. The point is, I really expect from here on out that we will see and hear something new that we can attract and regain the trust of the voters that we have lost over the years. You know, trust, how easy it is to lose and how hard it is to gain.
So I really hope that in the course of the campaign itself we will hear a story that is not just purely ideological, but this story that we managed to make in the local elections, with care for the working Bulgarian. In this case, we did it for the working people of Sofia by coming up with a Manifesto for a democratic city. I hope we will see something similar in this campaign by the left representatives of the national elections.
And you from “Buzludzhanci" how will you work for the BSP campaign, given the attitude towards you?
Yes, the attitude towards us is not from the BSP, this attitude has a specific dimension and specific individuals, that is why this has never discouraged us and we will always work to increase trust in the socialist party.
You will work, but how?
We will work as we have done so far, regardless of the position of a party leader, as the chairman of the City Council or simply a member of the City Council or a member of the National Council. We have enough options, structures how to help our lists. And by the way, I have one more thing to tell you, because yesterday was also the City Conference, at which the lists for people's representatives were arranged in Sofia. Something very disturbing has happened.
What?
Namely, with the decision of the previous conference, almost none of our young people within the city organization found a place in the City Council. Because as I told you, the conference last Sunday was held according to an apparatus scheme, with which simply a part of convenient people were brought into the new management of the City Organization, which was a really very bad certificate in general for the ideas, for the development of the City Organization. And yesterday we saw how almost all the young people on their lists withdrew from them, which really casts doubt on what kind of party we want to be, where we should go and what kind of people we should attract. I had to say that, because it really made a very bad impression, including many people recusing themselves as newly elected members of the City Council, including myself.
It is very curious how BSP-Sofia will continue in the coming months. What will he rely on and who will he rely on?
I really hope it continues the way it has been going so far. Because in 2022, when I was elected chairman of the City Council, I outlined two main things. The first was unification of the city organization, which at that time had reached certain levels of disunity in the district and city councils, which interfered with the normal functioning of the organization. The second thing was holding successful local government elections. I think we managed to achieve both - the city organization was united and that's why it also achieved this good result in Sofia.
I hope that what has happened in the last 2-3 months with the intervention of the National leadership in the city organization will remain in the background and from here on, unification will be sought again. Although with these two extraordinary conferences that took place, I do not believe that until the regular reporting-election cycle is held, there will be any progress in the work of unification and returning the trust of the voters to us.
Mr. Takov, if the day is known from the morning, I mean the events so far in the BSP, what predictions can be made for the congress in October? What kind of chickens will be counted in the fall if we keep the style of proverbs?
Very good and reasonable question. I hope that the party will find the strength within itself to oppose everything that has been happening in recent years. Because what happened in Sofia happened in many other municipal and regional BSP organizations in the last few years. And most unfortunately everywhere, because they call them organizational measures, where they are imposed by the party leadership, then if you look at the result of the subsequent elections, you will see how disastrous the so-called “organizational measures" have been.
Therefore, I hope that this time the party will find strength, be able to fight this model of work and return to its roots again, to its primal values, which it has always supported and supported and, of course, to the democratic begining. Because the BSP is not a leadership party and it should not be, the BSP is a mass party in which all bodies should have independence in their work and on the basis of their competences, without interference from above, as they say.
How does the fragmented left fit into the domestic political situation in the country?
It doesn't fit at all, right there is the problem we were talking about. Only a united left can oppose this model of governance that we have seen over the last year, namely assemblies, not coalitions, etc. Because it was a lost year for Bulgaria. I cannot, even if you ask me, list 2-3 successes that this government can boast of. As before the old cabinet left, we saw a 10-minute clip in which the ministers sat and looked at their successes. And inside, in one of the first places, they put the brutal desecration of the Monument to the Soviet Army and its illegal, in our opinion, demolition. So if we want something to change, only the BSP and the United Left can do it. But again, I question the current leadership's ability to unite the left in Bulgaria.
How did the scandals with the arrests in the “Customs", with the smuggling channels, with the suspicions of complicity of the chief secretary of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the mutual accusations between the non-coalition so-called partners sound to you?
Extremely ugly, it showed. This thing with the participation of such high-ranking figures at the state level, of course, we are neither a court nor a prosecutor's office, so we can know the details. But what can be seen from the media, this in no way contributes to the trust of citizens towards politicians and the political class. And precisely because of such scandals, which we have seen more than once over the years, you can see that voter turnout is already approaching 30%, which means less than 1/3 of the country's representation and citizens' trust in politicians. This, as you know, always contributes to the bought, controlled and corporate vote, low voter turnout. And maybe that's why such configurations are then obtained in the parliament and then we get to these scandals that we have seen in recent months.
With what momentum is Bulgaria heading towards these elections?
We see that it is starting rather sluggishly, only with the scandals it is moving forward. So far, I have not heard any concrete ideas, in general, the big topics that lie ahead of the state, both in the internal political and in the foreign political plan. I haven't heard of big consensus ideas in relation to health care, education, the demographic collapse that is happening in the country, anyone talking about these topics at all, and talking about a plan and a horizon of 10-15-20 years. Everyone looks in front of their noses and says: “Well yes, the next elections will probably be in 1 year, so let's not make big plans. And that is exactly why the state cannot prosper and run well.
I want to ask you a few questions about your work in SOS. You are the chairman of the Committee on Transport and Road Safety and vice-chairman of the Committee on Budget and Finance. What's the news from them? We are not getting enough information about your work.
You don't get enough information because, unfortunately, after the municipal council became operational and the scandals surrounding the employment of the municipal council decreased, the media lost interest. Which is really a shame, because we are trying to work at high speed from here on out. Yes, I can say that at the moment there are not enough reports, including from the administration, it is not working at the pace that I would like. But anyway, one of the main priorities, especially as the chairman of the Committee on Transport and Road Safety, will be related to road safety in the city. Because you see how accidents with drivers who have used alcohol and drugs are becoming more frequent, there are many worrying things and we will pay special attention there.
Even one of the members of your committee showed up after serious use of alcohol, but he continues to be a municipal councilor, although transferred to another committee. Not much of an emblem to emulate.
Well no, it's not an emblem to emulate in any case. I have had the opportunity to say this several times, but the facts are the facts, we cannot evict him from the city council, he was simply removed from the Committee on Transport and Road Safety, because after all, the idea of this committee is to deal with the problems of urban transport and traffic in the capital, the concern is really for road safety and for the residents of the capital, and such behavior is not permissible.
Mr. Takov, how is the implementation of the capital's budget going? Are you aware at all, do you regularly receive statements of income and especially of expenses, of expenses?
I already at the adoption of the budget, which the group of the “BSP for Bulgaria" did not support, I expressed very big reservations about the implementation of the budget, especially in its expenditure part. You saw, recently the deputy mayor for construction in the capital was also replaced, as I have repeatedly stated both at a meeting of the municipal council and to the mayor Terziev that the offshoot in the capital program, which is close to 620 million, will be very large and will an awful lot of unutilized funds remain, which means a further deterioration of the quality of life in the capital. At GERB, there was such a trend over the years, they even reached 45% implementation alone, 200-300 million BGN per year remained unspent, which corresponds to many lied expectations of the people of the capital. I really hope this doesn't happen again, but at the rate things are going, I think we're going to have serious defaults again.
No, that's not the only thing in common, of course. Sofia, apart from being the capital and the largest city, more or less, according to unofficial data, maybe 20 to 25% of the population of the entire country are present in Sofia every day. According to official data, 1.3 million people live here. 40% of the gross domestic product is produced by the capital and it is indeed a serious and complex city to manage. That's why the experiments should end and we should really have people in the administration as deputy mayors who know what they are doing. Otherwise, we will have another lost year for our capital, which is not good. There are an awful lot of systems that need funding both urgently and to improve their work.
Who are they?
Infrastructure: educational infrastructure, health infrastructure, including transport infrastructure. In urban transport, a very serious optimization is needed, which we are currently working on. New vehicles need to be purchased, more environmentally friendly. There are many things, there are many things, and I really hope that the pace of work will be accelerated so that the funding provided under European programs is not missed. We have funded and state-delegated activities, etc. There are many, really terribly many things and I hope that the municipal council will very soon get into the rhythm that our fellow citizens and voters expect.