Bulgarian Socialists Call for New Cabinet, Prime Minister

Politics » DOMESTIC | January 17, 2011, Monday // 16:40
Bulgaria: Bulgarian Socialists Call for New Cabinet, Prime Minister Rumen Petkov from the Bulgarian Sscialist Party has stated that the country needs a enw GERB cabinet with a new Prime Minister. Photo by BGNES

The Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) has announced that the only outcome of the situation with the published tapped phone calls would be the forming of a second cabinet of the ruling party GERB with a new Prime Minister.

This statement was made by the MPs from BSP, Rumen Petkov and Georgi Bozhinov on Monday with regards to the scandal that was triggered last week by the release of tapes of conversations between the Prime Minister Boyko Borisov and the Director of the Customs Agency, Vanyo Tanov.

According to Bozhinov, GERB needs to immediately form another government with a clear political and parliamentary support. He noted that this is the choice that the ruling party has to make in the current political situation.

In his words, leaders of the new government should be people like the Minister on Regional Development, Rosen Plevneliev, or like the Bulgarian EU Commissioner, Kristalina Georgieva, which were recently found to enjoy increasing public support.

Bozhinov has also explained that BSP and the executive bureau of the party have been mandated to request a no-confidence vote for the government and to seek support by other political powers for all possible legislative actions in the situation.

"If we want to show the European Union that we are a country, which values the European way of thinking, the European logic and policies, then the resignation of the government is the only decision," Petkov said.

He pointed out that for three weeks he has been insisting for a clarification on whether Tanov was investigated, and if yes, then who had requested the investigation – the Prosecutor's Office, Interior Ministry or State Agency for National Security (DANS).

In Petkov's words, the clarification would help "localize the potential leakage of information."

The tapes were published Friday by the Galeria weekly, a paper believed to be the mouthpiece of Alexei Petrov, who is a former special agent of the State Agency for National Security, DANS, (currently under house arrest), and who has been investigated on organized crime charges since his detention in the much advertised "Operation Octopus" in February 2010.

The recordings, which authenticity is yet to be proven, allege Borisov provided a cover-up for the owner of the "Ledenika" beer company, Mihail Mihov.

The tapes reveal that Borisov had called Tanov with an order to immediately pull the tax agents out of the factory and that the "Ledenika" boss personally complained to the PM.

In another tape, Tanov can be heard telling his Deputy, Antoniy Strandzhevm to keep the documents secure while he is away. 

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Tags: Bulgarian Socialist Party, Rumen Petkov, GERB, Cabinet, Boyko Borisov, Rosen Plevneliev, Kristalina Georgieva, BSP, Vanyo Tanov, Ledenika, Mihail Mihov, Alexei Petrov, Galeria, DANS, Antoniy Strandzhev

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