President: Bulgaria Needs Manager, Not Sheriff

Politics » DOMESTIC | December 22, 2010, Wednesday // 11:13
President: Bulgaria Needs Manager not Sheriff: President: Bulgaria Needs Manager, Not Sheriff Bulgarian PM, Boyko Borisov (front-right) and President, Georgi Parvanov, have clashed on numerous occasions after Borisov's GERB Party took office in the summer of 2009. Photo by BGNES

Bulgaria has a very weak Prime Minister without any management skills, according to President, Georgi Parvanov.

Parvanov spoke Wednesday in an interview for the Bulgarian National Television, BNT, saying PM, Boyko Borisov, can no longer use the previous cabinet of the Three-Way Coalition as excuse for the problems in the country.

"Bulgaria does not need a sheriff; it needs a good manager," the President stated, adding the cabinet of the Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (GERB) party is staging its own scandals in order to divert attention from the real problems – the collapse of the health care system, the crisis in the education sector, unemployment, and the impoverishment of the population.

Parvanov stressed he never wanted to be a PM, but as all Bulgarians had interest in seeing the country being led by a good team headed by a capable Premier.

The President admitted in the beginning the government's attack on organized crime was strong, but then turned into a PR campaign, appealing to GERB to give answers about the contraband and the human trafficking being a reason for the delay in Bulgaria's joining the Schengen zone.

The Head of State also reiterated he would not recall all Bulgarian diplomats who were recently exposed as collaborators and agents of the former Communist State Security, voicing a proposal to get together with Borisov and examine each individual case, and then make the decisions public.

"It is not fair to say the number of diplomats with Communist secret services ties has increased during my term because we did not look in the archives. And I am amazed to see how Borisov quickly changed his mind – in 2008 he was making a difference between a snitch and an intelligence officer," Parvanov pointed out.

The President stated he was surprised how someone, who used to train the repressive apparatus of the former Communist police force, now wants to be the moral arbiter of society.

"Why make the diplomats pay the price of the transition period – they are only working on the tasks given them by their country's rulers? I personally support exposing everyone who collaborated with the Communist services, but we must make the difference between the informers and those who served their country. Remember I did not veto the Communist State Security Files Act, because I did not want to be accused of having some personal motives," Parvanov stressed, adding he firmly opposes any lustration.

The President, himself, was exposed in 2006 for being an agent of the Communist Secret Services, working under the alias "Gotse."

The Head of State explained he was nervous about the amendments to the Election Code over his belief they serve GERB to secure the party's win at the upcoming elections, but voiced preparedness to support the idea to hold local and presidential election on the same day.

Parvanov also accused Borisov in purposely delaying major energy projects, especially the Russian South Stream gas lime and even more so the construction of Bulgaria's second Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) in the Danube town of Belene because he wanted to see first which side will become a winner in the public debate.

The President pointed out meanwhile neighboring Romania and Turkey are developing their nuclear energy sector and asked for a referendum on Belene if a decision is not made by the end of the year.

Regarding his recently launched civic initiative, as he calls it – Alternative for Bulgarian Revival (ABV – an acronym standing for the first three letters of the Bulgarian alphabet), Parvanov explained the organization is "a marathoner not a sprinter" and for this reason the movement had not been very active since it's founding.

He dismissed claims ABV was swarming with boring people and the initiative would turn into a political party.

We need your support so Novinite.com can keep delivering news and information about Bulgaria! Thank you!

Domestic » Be a reporter: Write and send your article
Tags: ABV, South stream, Belene NPP, Belene, NPP, Election Code, collaborators, DS, Communist Bulgaria, communist regime, State Security, files, agents, Ambassadors, diplomats, Bulgarian, State Security, diplomats, GERB, Borisov, Boyko Borisov, Parvanov, Georgi Parvanov, president, Prime Miniser, Schengen

Advertisement
Advertisement
Bulgaria news Novinite.com (Sofia News Agency - www.sofianewsagency.com) is unique with being a real time news provider in English that informs its readers about the latest Bulgarian news. The editorial staff also publishes a daily online newspaper "Sofia Morning News." Novinite.com (Sofia News Agency - www.sofianewsagency.com) and Sofia Morning News publish the latest economic, political and cultural news that take place in Bulgaria. Foreign media analysis on Bulgaria and World News in Brief are also part of the web site and the online newspaper. News Bulgaria