The rulers are inadequate. It is already certain. In a group of impudent and self-forgetful people. Do they want a civil war?! What should we expect from the protests… Political scientist Kaloyan Metodiev speaks to FACTI.
- Mr. Metodiev, protests began about the budget, and the resignation of the cabinet was demanded. How did the protest evolve…
- It all started with a constitutional complaint. After the elections that were stolen in front of the eyes of all of Bulgaria. It has been proven that three parties stole the elections (GERB-SDS, BSP-OL and DPS-NN). This government has been criminal, fraudulent, illegitimate from day one. It has never had the right to govern. All year long, the tension simmered and spilled out on social media, in cafes, in offices, in gardens, in small and medium-sized companies... During this time, the ruling party wallowed in complacency, ministers and MPs rolled around on excursions on the government plane, leaving the country in a state of drought, fires, floods, galloping prices and swirling speculation. For weeks, their MPs had been insulting people with epithets, chasing young doctors, calling us a mob, setting up committees for 0.26 seconds, grinning, a policeman was climbing over the protesters, etc. Inadequate. Deaf. We all told them that their budget was shoddy and unfair. Including the European Commission.
- So, the budget blew up the situation?
- The budget they submitted two weeks ago was simply the detonator capsule for everything that had been accumulated. Some of the opposition parties declared a protest. They only wanted a new budget. The squares all over Bulgaria passed them by. They passed in front of the organizers. They chanted: “Resignation!“ Hundreds of thousands of people poured out. We became a sea. The anger is real, accumulated. These are protests for justice, order, respect, responsibility, working institutions. Valuable things. We are moving towards the overthrow of this government, which has lost its measure, sensitivity, decency. It is morally exhausted. The protest lives a life of its own. And seeks retribution.
- Why didn't they give in during the first protests?
- I wondered why they were so stubborn and no one is giving in to this budget. There is no rational explanation. The words of the mandate holder Boyko Borisov ring in my ears - “the ministries have been given on concession“. It seems that everyone has “set aside“ something in the budget and does not give up - municipal projects, highways, dams... The ministers are straw men. Peevski takes pictures under the coat of arms, and this goes through the municipal projects to support his party and prepare for the next elections. The BSP is dead - the business wing, 5-6 MPs, will squeeze the scam one last time. ITN are also among the concessionaires. They do not care about the future of the state. They want all the rest of us to pay their bill. It will not work. The nonsense is over.
- We heard that Boyko Borisov does not like the budget either, but he summoned employers and unions to speak at the GERB headquarters. Is this how you write a new budget...
- No. This is how he tries to quell the just public anger. I would describe it as old fighting tricks. The leadership of one union is close to GERB, and the other to the MRF. I see that they are maneuvering, bending, pressed by their members and loyalty to two party leaders. Employers' organizations are very divided. And they are missing the backbone of the economy - small and medium-sized businesses. The street represents it and it is there. I am categorical! Working people are angry and have suffered greatly from the financial excesses of the ruling party. The future of children and grandchildren is being stolen with these outrageous loans for thefts, schemes, privileges, castes.
Otherwise, with these meetings Borisov is playing sketches.
He wants to show himself as a factor. After Pazardzhik, it was seen that Boyko is a dog that only barks. 20 years ago he came to power with the slogan that he would rid Bulgaria of the “DPS“ model. He lied to the people. He pushed a barbecue to win the elections. And now he is in the role of a lackey of the same MRF, but with a new leader - Peevski.
And here I want to warn the opposition with a thick black marker. Let them write down what I will tell them: some of you speak strongly against Peevski, but skillfully avoid the name of Borisov. The time for tricks is over. Are there any calculations and backstage deals again? This time it will be the last time for the complacent.
- Also, the budget was “the only“, and now we are probably moving towards a second one, but will it also be defined as “the only“…
- This is a worse budget than the previous one. The liars first lied that there was no other possible, but under the pressure of the protests they introduced “a new one“. This is the same budget, but with a postponed effect and with much more severe parameters for the three-year budget framework. Within two years, social security contributions will be raised by 15%. Zero reforms. Borrowing and growing debts. No spending cuts. God help whoever will govern after them.
- What are the scandalous feathers that you see?
- There are many. There are glaring imbalances within the state administration - some are signing for 20 thousand a month, while others are scrounging for 900 leva. The Health Insurance Fund's budget is decreasing because the money (260 million euros) for young doctors has been removed, along with zero improvement in the health system, the sinking of billions, a whirlwind trade in health, some doctors with 50-60 thousand a month, and others with 2 thousand, more than 20 districts without adequate hospital care, dead rural healthcare.
The money for highways and secondary roads is still there, but it stinks of corruption there with prices that are not found in Europe.
And it smells like MP portions. They should have cut spending on armaments too - billions for planes, helicopters, equipment, as if we can maintain a conventional army and we have a population of 50 million. We see that professional soldiers cannot even march. Two weeks ago, Slovenia refused huge military deliveries of armored personnel carriers in order to save money for the economy.
The Supreme Court has 1 billion euros against huge public dissatisfaction with the way the judicial system functions, the non-random distribution of cases, etc.
In this budget, the automatic increase in salaries of deputies, the president, ministers, regulators... a total of about 400 people with privileges remains absolutely scandalous. Some institutions are also scandalously increasing their money. This is sacrilege. Millions for alimony, security guards, cars... We are in 27th place in the EU in terms of socio-economic indicators, right? If you check the salaries of those listed, they are not in 27th place, but ahead of their colleagues in at least 5 other countries. Well, is there such a self-forgetful and impudent political elite in Europe? There is no other. They tell the people - there is no money, tighten your belts, and they live like Roman patricians with foreign money.
- We also heard President Rumen Radev address the nation in support of the protest. How do you view this move of his?
- Late. He reacted days late. And with the wrong communication. First he wrote a post, and the next day he read it on television. Great expectations and no effect. He could have been in power when the square wanted him in 2020. The protests against the euro in the spring, which he ignited, wanted him, but he never went down to them. A year before, he signed the law on the euro, personally campaigned among the young for its introduction, his official offices did the most on this issue. Then he abruptly changed his position. He brought people to the streets, but abandoned them. And he wasted that chance.
With today's protesters, he can't come down. They don't want him.
Categorically. I'm there, I'm listening. Besides, he supported this government. His deputy said that we should be tolerant, he didn't regret the elections to the Constitutional Court, went to his oath, legalized the election of their constitutional judge, even though we urged him not to do it. How does he want to overthrow him now? So he created the PP and in the second month called them “charlatans“ and lost trust. Honestly, I don't understand him with these loopholes. I don't know what exactly the alternative would be if he came forward.
- The opposition is preparing for a new protest, but did anyone actually expect so many people at the second protest in Sofia? After that, the wave spread to other cities in the country. What does this already show?
- Three important things can be said. First, the scale is huge. No one expected so many people. And I see on social networks, in conversations with acquaintances and friends, that the protest will grow.
More and more people are gaining courage.
The accumulated anger finds its way to the streets. Second, territorially, the protest is flooding the country. There are only a few regional cities that are shamefully silent. Bulgaria has stood up. People are organizing themselves. The support of the court spokesmen that this is a yellow-paved protest has died down. In Sofia alone, the second time we had over 100,000 people. Artificial intelligence counts them in seconds. I am not a yellow-paved person. Plovdiv, Gabrovo, Pleven, Burgas, Ruse, Blagoevgrad, Varna, Gotse Delchev, Stara Zagora, Haskovo, Veliko Tarnovo, etc. - they are not. This is an awakened and angry Bulgaria. Look at the map — Moesia, Thrace and Macedonia are on their feet. I am very proud of most of the people in the country. I did not expect it. I traveled a lot this year. I supported the protests over the water crisis. And I saw Bulgaria with different eyes. We have the potential to make a leap. As long as we do not overdo it.
- We are seeing the biggest protests since 2013 and Dance With Me, when people did not want Peevski in DANS. 12 years later, what is Bulgaria like?
- The MRF has found a new leader and a new host. Back then, they had stuck to and were draining the BSP - Stanishev, led by Dogan. Now they have stuck to GERB and are doing the same, now led by Peevski. They have taken control of the Supreme Judicial Council, the prosecutor's office, the "Security" sector, regulators, the home registry, ministries... This is what is new. They have much more power. But, as paradoxical as it may sound to you, this is their weakness. They have sanctified themselves. Their leader is under very heavy international sanctions. He cannot hold any office. At the same time, so many people have not been on the streets since the 1990s. And this is the middle class. They are not hungry and barefoot people. The majority are young. The short answer is: Bulgaria is angry and wants to change the model of governance. And one more thing. Peevski is trying to hold counter-protests. Don't do it! He is only digging himself deeper with this pitiful experience and accumulating more public tension. This work cannot be done by force. And let him not scare with ethnic tension, because he has no chance. This is just turning the Bulgarian Turks against him. I see him on social networks, we are friends with many. The time for these mantras has long passed. He prolongs the agony and wastes the state's time.
- Early elections are looming, but will we also see President Radev on the political field?
- We saw 4 of his projects before that - ITN (bright support and partnership), Stefan Yanev, PP (created and launched) and Levitsata (Rumen Petkov, Maya Manolova, people from his Initiative Committee, from his administration, who are now mostly in the BSP - United Left, that is, partners of Borisov and Peevski). All four of his projects ended in coalitions or agreements with GERB - DPS. It is said that some people are currently traveling around the country (he himself said that they were collecting money on his behalf, but he has not yet said who they are),
There is some casting going on in the presidency, a few mayors and them, but whatever it is, we will have to see it first.
Attempt number 5 hardly has much different personnel potential, faces, political ideas than the previous four. When it announces itself, enters the studio, holds meetings, explains what, why and with whom it is doing, we will be able to comment.
- Do you expect protests during the holidays as well, or will the discontent decrease?
- The holidays are a time for loved ones and family. But the genie is out of the bottle. Energy is not lost - it is only transformed. And it will pursue its goals. Borisov and Peevski cannot hold out for long. It's no longer about this pathetic government, but about their personal position in the political coordinate.
If they don't fall by Christmas, there will be more reasons in the winter.
Social discontent is also expected in January-February. It will add more fuel to the protests. High bills, prices, speculation. They didn't lift a finger to hit the speculators along the chain. Some shops for the people, they inflate the administration, they do analyses all year... alabalism. This government is exhausted. It's not a question of whether or not, but when it will go. And how - peacefully or with more protests.