Bulgaria PM Boyko Borisov has stated that the proposed 5-year ban on GM crop trials will “guarantee calmness” in Bulgarian society.

“I think that what the GERB MPs and the cabinet are proposing for Genetically Modified Organisms: firstly a moratorium for 5 years on everything to reassure the public and then what Brussels wants – to vote on the changes, I think this is a 100% guarantee for all fear GMOs,” Borisov said Friday.

He continued; “We can always explain tensions in the country and want to ensure that Bulgarian citizens are not worried. I think a moratorium in the GMO law will ensure this and will not generate talk in the parliament, which some parties benefit from by being able to attack us.”

Earlier Friday, the center-right governing GERB party proposed that all cultivation of GM crops should be banned for 5-years, in a change to the new GMO Act, following public pressure.

Borisov also commented on Volen Siderov, leader of the Bulgarian nationalist party Ataka, who was allegedly drunk and used racist remarks against the attendants of a Lufthansa flight. Borisov stated that “everyone is responsible for his own actions”, and that he hoped Siderov could explain himself.