James Warlick, US Ambassador to Bulgaria, said he did not regret his critical words towards the country's judicial system.

"There are two judicial systems in the country – one for the rich and the powerful, placing them above the law, and one for the common people," Warlick said last Tuesday, thus triggering a wave of negative comments from high Bulgarian officials, most recently from Parliamentary speaker Tsetska Tsacheva, who on Monday labeled his words as "inappropriate".

On Tuesday, however, Warlick pointed out he did not want to criticize but to start a nationwide discussion:

"I did not aim at insulting anybody, but I am glad I provoked a discussion. A US Ambassador should not mention names, but people have come to me and said they are sick of all this," he said Tuesday, referring to the widespread corruption in the country.

Warlick exemplified the corruption issue with the Bulgarian traffic policemen.

"It seems that soliciting and giving bribes is perceived as something normal here...this cannot happern in my country," Warlick stated, as cited by the Dnevnik daily. "Everyone should say "No more!"

The US Ambassador pointed out that safety is not less important an issue than price when it comes to the country's possible future Belene nuclear power plant.

"Bulgaria is in a seismic zone and that should be considered when a decision on the construction of Belene or new reactors at the existing Kozloduy NPP," he said.

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