In his nervousness and weakness "We continue the change" tend to turn their struggle for survival into their worst enemy. The next step is Andrey Gyurov's attempt to escalate the case with his removal to the authoritative periodical centralbanking.com. Its printed edition is published bimonthly and is supplied to central banks and other leading financial institutions. It's in English and has generally written a good 22-page article about the dismissal of Gyurov. They relay his words, but they are distant and do not confirm his claims with their own research.
This is what Stefan Antonov commented on "Voices".
They have sought out independent commentators, some who stand by their names, others who do not. The end result is that Gyurov's case is presented as uncertain in its defense – inaccuracies are acknowledged, but it is disputed whether they can be a reason for its removal. In the end, they confirm the politicization of the Bulgarian National Bank, even with Andrey Gyurov in its ranks, and he himself is discredited, portrayed as a person who went to fight with his former colleagues. And if it comes back, the climate in the central bank will be toxic, but no one in the article accepts this as the likely outcome.
There is a solid amount of bragging about what work has been done. How is the environment created in Management “Emission“ every employee to give their best. It's as if the people there have been oppressed for the past 27 years. It is pointed out that without him the management is adrift and there is no one to prepare Bulgaria for the adoption of the euro, although since the removal of Gyurov, the deputy governor Radoslav Milenkov, who is responsible for banking supervision, has been appointed as the acting post.
The funniest thing in the whole article is the claim of MPs from "We continue the change", asked for a comment, that Andrey Gyurov was President Rumen Radev's favorite for acting prime minister last summer, when the choice was limited to the so-called "home book". The publication quotes Gyurov, who agrees with the statement, adding that he was “the only one with reform experience on the list”. “If you look at the analysts' reports and the media coverage, it is generally clear that the Commission's actions were aimed at removing me from this list,” says Gyurov.
If we look at the media coverage and the reports of the analysts, it becomes understandable that with its actions the commission (for countering corruption – b. a.) aimed precisely to remove me from the list,” Gyurov adds.
This statement should be the focus of the entire article and of all conclusions that will be drawn from here on. First, the publication itself claims, as has the European Central Bank for 15 years, that it wants us to make our central bank independent of political influences before we want to enter the eurozone. And now to say that Andrey Gyurov was removed so as not to become Prime Minister means that his very appointment was with the idea that he could one day become acting Prime Minister and was implanted as a sleeper cell in the Bulgarian National Bank.< br />
“Claiming that you lost because you lacked luck is like admitting all your victories to be accidental“, is one of Georgi Asparuhov's quotes – Gundis I read as a child. Well, to claim that you are removed from the BNB, just because your position made you a potential prime minister, is tantamount to admitting that the political party implanted you so that the president is obliged to consider your biography.
But let's see what comments the media keep about Gyurov's potential to become prime minister. A reference shows that only Kiril Petkov and Venko Sabrutev put Andrey Gyurov at the head of the prime ministerial race. Only party members. Nobody else. And what will the European Central Bank think when they read this? Or in any other central bank, or anyone, if you read the article, but have no idea about Bulgaria? Some politicians got their man into the central bank of Bulgaria, hoping to make him prime minister, but they didn't succeed.
No matter how much Gyurov disputes the procedure for his removal – the report, the investigation, the decision of the Anti-Corruption Commission, its confirmation by the Management Board, at no time is it mentioned that they are illegitimate. Andrey Gyurov himself admits that as deputy governor of the BNB he went to party events. But that's not why the commission removed him. And it continues. Gyurov's thesis is that although there are records in the commercial register that he participates in non-profit companies and organizations, they are irrelevant because he did not actually practice activity. Not a word why he was not written off, since he had nothing to do with the organizations.
It goes even further and states that the ECB's position is that “conflict of interest is not “necessarily grounds for dismissal”.
In second place, after all this, there remains the question of what reform experience Gyurov has on the list of potential prime ministers. What? Please? What reform did he have in mind? Planned? Organized? Moved?
What reformer honors should be recognized to Andrey Gyurov? He has been an MP since December 2021. and enters the BNB in July 2023. Exactly what reform does Andrey Gyurov have in his biography for these years and eight months? Because there is none in the BNB. Alankoolu? In the United States, where the military is held in high esteem, the act of putting on a uniform without having served and flaunting medals that were not meritorious is called “honor theft”.
Let's also see what Gyurov himself says about a possible prime ministerial nomination on March 31 this year.
"As deputy governor of the BNB and head of the "Issuance" I am directly involved in the strategic task of joining Bulgaria to the Eurozone. Moreover, at the moment both the Law on the BNB and the rules of the European Central Bank do not allow the reconciliation of professional and political positions. The Central Bank is an independent institution, and as its representative, I firmly believe that it is not a good idea for it to get involved in the political process, and for the names of its leaders to be involved in political discussions.
And why does Andrey Gyurov think that the president has no other favorites in the Bulgarian National Bank? Why does he think that after calling his party leaders “charlatans”, he will turn to him to head a cabinet? It is true that when a man does not know what he is doing, he likes to do it the most, but there must still be some healthy forces left in this country that will not allow a man who is in government to stand at the head of the executive power for just 20 months before being appointed, as it turned out, with the hindsight to grow out of inevitability.
Until recently, I thought that Asen Vasilev best kept us out of the Eurozone, imposing policies that took us away from it. We can now also thank Andrey Gyurov for taking us away from the single currency. He certainly has the right to defend his rights. But the fact that he is turning his fight into a reality show shows to the greatest extent that he is not for the post of deputy governor of the central bank. His defense was delivered personally on several television stations. Now he speaks to a specialized publication.
What will Andrey Gyurov do if the Court of the European Union recognizes the legal grounds for the Bulgarian institutions to act as they did?
Or to finish – there is a 22-page article, an attempt at an in-depth study of the incident. Refusal to recognize the rightness of Gyurov. It's just giving his opinion a platform. There is a bona fide conclusion that there is politicization in our central bank and a logical conclusion that Andrey Gyurov is part of the politicization.