Will we see a new vision of the "Progressive Bulgaria" coalition for a radical change in the country's governance. As well as whether the request for 121 MPs will be fulfilled… Arch. Ivan Shishkov, former acting regional minister and current candidate for MP from "Progressive Bulgaria" spoke to FACTI.
– Mr. Shishkov, you stated that it is worrying to form coalitions when everyone was with everyone. Does this mean that "Progressive Bulgaria", of which you are a part, categorically excludes participation in a coalition government? And if so - with whom will you govern then?
– The main goal of the coalition “Progressive Bulgaria“ is to achieve 121 deputies. That is exactly why – because after the elections, any coalition with people who have formed coalitions without principles will be a problem. In the last three years, the political crisis has been constantly deepening precisely because of such unprincipled coalitions. Our main goals are to change the state so that it is no longer governed by oligarchic circles. And in no case should it look the way we all see what is happening right now. In “Progressive Bulgaria“ we have a clear idea of how this can happen. We come with the confidence that we can do it. Within the framework of the election campaign, I hope that we will be able to convince the citizens of Bulgaria that we really offer something new. This is on the agenda.
– You set a goal of 121 deputies, but this seems quite optimistic, given that we have a highly fragmented political terrain…
– All journalists, including you, ask me this question. But at the moment it is not clear which political forces will enter the parliament. We do not know not only who will enter, but also what will happen if we do not achieve the goal of 121 deputies. At this moment, one thing is clear - we will definitely be the first political force and we will have a sufficiently large difference from the others. We hope that people will understand the following - in addition to the fact that we can change the system of government in Bulgaria, the country can become a normal, civilized European country, in which corruption is not on the agenda. In which the news about bought votes does not start even before the election campaign. This is extremely worrying and must end. Look, it is simple. This bought vote is financed by corruption and by oligarchic circles that do not want to leave. The fight is currently together with the people - against these circles. Only the democratic way of change is the real one, because the replacement of power is not democracy.
Those who create rumors, spread false information and compromising materials, maintain this machine – and it is financed by corruption in Bulgaria.
It is very important that everyone goes out to vote and says –enough“. The scariest thing is that this has been proposed more and more in recent years. And logically the question arises – with whom to form a coalition. This is the worrying thing. Everyone has participated in some way in creating this bad environment. Yes, some parties more, others less. But, as we have seen, there were people who decided that with the creators of the model they could govern the country and “change” it. And so an even greater political crisis occurred. The struggle today is to get the Bulgarian people out of their lethargy and to get them to vote. I believe that this is achievable. And I believe that 121 deputies is an achievable goal. There is a huge number of disappointed people. Including us from “Progressive Bulgaria“ are disappointed with the political class. President Radev entered the political arena because this was the only possible chance to respond to people's expectations for change. Because Bulgaria needs a leader, not a messiah. Obviously, up to this point, leaders who would change the system have not been found, although we have heard such requests.
– The latest sociological survey by “Market Links“ gives a 3% difference between “Progressive Bulgaria“ and GERB. Initially, it was given a greater lead, but now it is shrinking. Is this a trend?
– For me, this is strange, because all the surveys so far have given over 30% for Rumen Radev's project and just under 20% for GERB. Sometimes sociologists give strange results. However, I meet people &ndquo; I walk around Sofia and the country. I see the mood – people want a general change and I believe it will happen. When such a political battle begins, those who want to preserve the status quo become more active. But it can be changed if GERB and DPS do not have one third of the parliament. This is a goal that can be achieved with high voter turnout.
– You say that the bought vote can be fought with high turnout. What specific mechanisms do you propose?
– The specific mechanism is in the people themselves – to go out and vote. It is also important, no matter how bored they are with politics, to read who is proposing what, to get acquainted with the party programs and to think about the positive part of the campaign. It is true that the campaigns so far have not offered enough specifics. But we have a clear idea not only of how to fight corruption, but also of how to develop the country.
My appeal is for people to get informed and vote.
Let them read, understand our messages and I hope that afterwards we can congratulate ourselves on success – that the people in Bulgaria can fight the mafia, that GERB and DPS will not have a third and that we will have a stable government that will really change the country. And not to repeat the scenario with “We continue the change“, which originated from the official offices of President Radev, some of which I have been in. This was not political engineering by the president, but a project of people who took advantage of their image from official power to create a party.
– You were an official regional minister. What problems did you solve with roads and construction during your administration, which we are talking about today?
– We did a lot. I exclude the fact that we showed how to steal. I exclude the fact that by removing the nuts, we showed that between 15 and 33% of asphalt is missing from Bulgarian highways, including many other road components. The question is what have we done positively, and let me emphasize this. Do you remember that the last lot of the “Europe“ highway came into operation very recently? We designed this lot in 9 months, approved a detailed development plan, alienated it and issued a building permit – and it began to be built. This lot is entirely thanks to the efforts of our office. We put part of the first lot of the “Europe“ highway into operation. In just 10 months, we moved a very large part of it, given that construction began back in 2017. I must also say about the most important highway that no one was dealing with – from Ruse to Makaza. I do not forget “Hemus“. Imagine how long this distance is from Ruse to Makaza and how this is the highway that truly connects Northern and Southern Bulgaria. For this highway, we managed in our 10 months to approve 70 kilometers of detailed development plans, to alienate them, to commission design – and is currently being built. There was a critical point related to the deadline, because the EIA procedure was about to expire and all this would happen in five years. When we talk about critical moments - at the "Struma" highway, we managed to approve a small development plan, but thanks to it we not only completed a road junction, but also made it possible to build the Kresna bypass.
– The topic of Kresna has been around for years…
– That's right, we actually saved a procedure that would otherwise have been delayed by at least five years. And one more thing. I am a candidate for MP and I lead the list in Vratsa. I will tell you why - the Northwest has literally been forgotten for years, because no one made a comprehensive and high-quality project for a connection from Vidin to Sofia. You also know my thesis about the tunnel under Petrohan - the most direct connection. This is what we will propose - clearly and categorically - and we will build it. In this part of the country there are no projects, but we have advanced very detailed development plans. I give an example - the road between Mezdra and Botevgrad. The project envisaged level crossings and roundabouts. Can you imagine the quality of the design? On “Hemus“ we put the tenth lot into operation and advanced the ninth. In the previous offices, we alienated the fourth, fifth and sixth lots.
The state had started illegal construction on unalienated land.
And all this - with money distributed, in the case of the sacks, in the in-house procedures. That is the difference.
- You claim that clear projects are a guarantee against theft in the infrastructure. Isn't the problem more in control and institutions, rather than in the lack of projects?
– We must do quality design. When you have a quality project, you have no revisions during construction or they are minimal. You have no surprises. You can control the builder - in terms of deadlines and quality. When you have poor-quality projects and there is a rush to “cut the ribbon“ without full documentation - this is the wrong way to build. There is no private investor who works like this. The private investor works with his own money, and the state spends ours - and that's why they didn't care how much would go into the bags and how much into the asphalt. That's how it becomes infinitely expensive. It's not just corruption - it's just much more expensive. To know how much something costs, you need to have a project. And the previous ones gave away money before there was a project. This is the biggest problem. I sincerely hope this doesn't happen again. Your big topic is the so-called “in-house“ procedures. If you come to power, what will you change in the legislation to end this model?
– Inhouse procedures, the way they are done, have nothing to do with legislation. What was done at “Hemus“ is a clear violation of the law…
– The inhouse procedure in itself is not bad, but it has another meaning – when a state-owned company can implement a project on its own. However, at the moment we have a state-owned company “Automagistrali“, which is simply a distribution station through which money passes. This is a violation. The problem is not in the law, but in its violation without consequences. And now we return to the beginning of the conversation. And this is why it is important to have 121 deputies, even 161, and then what you are asking me about will simply go down in history. When the laws are respected, or when the violator bears responsibility, and the prosecutor who wants to file a case about the bags of money from "Hemus" is not fired, the state will function differently. Our money will be far more protected and no one will think of committing a legal violation and lying that this is useful, because you see, with the money we have "fought future inflation". As you can see, nothing happened. And as far as I know, a minister after me signed an indexation contract for the "Hemus" highway, which is another topic and I don't want to get into it. Now we have undercover builders, a state-owned company that carries the guarantee through which the money passes, and if you control it and demand everything by contract, it will practically go bankrupt. Then the undercover builders, the builders with the bags, will get out of all construction. You see how complicated everything is made so that the state cannot get away with this absolutely vicious practice. It is not just bad - it is an absolutely legal violation. But elections are coming and it is up to the people whether they want all this to end.