NY Republicans to Ask State Dept to Recall US Ambassador to Bulgaria

Politics » DIPLOMACY | December 10, 2010, Friday // 16:50
Bulgaria: NY Republicans to Ask State Dept to Recall US Ambassador to Bulgaria Daniel Halloran (left), a member of the New York State congress, with RZS party leader Yane Yanev on Friday. Photo by BGNES

Representatives of the Republican Party from New York State, who are in Sofia at the invitation of the marginal conservative party RZS, have criticized the American Ambassador for "meddling" in Bulgaria's internal affairs.

Daniel Holloran, a member of the New York City Council, and Steven Stites, a Republican political strategist from New York state, are in the country at the invitation of the leader of the Conservative Order, Law and Justice (RZS) party, Yane Yanev. Both Yanev and his party have been tangled in constant scandals since the fall of 2009 when some of its MPs deserved RZS.

"I apologize to the Bulgarian people for the engagement of our ambassador in the internal affairs of Bulgaria," Halloran stated on Friday at a press conference of the leadership of the RZS party, as cited by the BGNES news agency.

He declared he will send a letter to the State Department to demand the withdrawal of the US Ambassador in Sofia, while he did not mention even once the name of Ambassador James Warlick.

"The job of the United States is not to interfere in the domestic politics of the respective country, we have a standard of diplomatic behavior, and the USA is supposed to remain neutral in that respect, while the ambassador is not supposed to express support for any single political power," Halloran stated further.

With respect to Ambassador Warlick's appearance in the hit Bulgarian TV series "Staklen Dom" ("Glass Home") in the role of the US Ambassador to Bulgaria, Halloran said he would not do the same thing if he was in that capacity. Ambassador Warlick became the first ever acting US diplomat to star in a TV series, for which he got the special permission of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

In his criticism for Warlick, the New York City Council member went as far as pointing out Ronald Reagan as an example – saying that Reagan was an actor before he became President but that he was never an actor while serving as President.

"Perhaps when our ambassador gets recalled I can get him a job on Broadway," Halloran joked, also saying, "The Americans have a great friend in the face of the people of Bulgaria. Bulgarians must know that we have no intention of meddling – we will provide advice but the Bulgarians will decide their future on their own."

He went further to criticize Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov for stating that "he (Borisov) had special relations with the CIA and the FBI."

"This is not true – the United States support the people of Bulgaria, not the Bulgarian politicians," he said mentioning an example of a meeting of a Bulgarian delegation including Borisov with John Edward McLaughlin, a former Deputy Director and Acting Director of the CIA.

"I can guarantee that McLaughlin had no idea who were the people in the Bulgarian delegation, especially your Prime Minister. Borisov is playing a role in which he tries to make everybody believe that he is the reason for the close relations between Bulgaria and the USA which is not the case," he declared.

Even though Halloran slammed the US Ambassador to Bulgaria for "meddling" in Bulgaria's domestic politics, he himself took a stand on purely domestic Bulgarian issues, criticizing Prime Minister Borisov for the government policies on the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, and stating that it is the Bulgarian Constitution and politicians who need reforms.

Thus, Halloran has backed the agenda of the RZS party which has been drumming up support for its own initiative for adopting a new constitution. He emphasized that the US Republican Party supported the cause of conservative parties around the world.

The RZS party promised to provide the US Republicans with a report on "any statements made by the US Ambassador to Bulgaria that are contrary to the Bulgarian legislation, and about how he criticized certain political figures and pointed which political parties are convenient," he declared.

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Tags: RZS, Yane Yanev, conservative, Republican Party, US Republicans, Daniel Holloran, Steven Stites

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