"The presidential elections are of key importance for how Rumen Radev will be perceived in the public space. What worries me is that there is no competition - there is no opposition, and when there is no opposition, there is no democracy. Suddenly the competitors went home and hunkered down".
This was commented to the Bulgarian National Radio by the economic analyst and leader of the "Bulgaria Can" party Kuzman Iliev.
"If we all agreed in Bulgaria that we are sitting at the same table and no one cares - and someone will take over the presidential institution, the parliament, the executive branch, and all the regulators, and is the best friend of the embassies, and leads us to militarization, to huge budget deficits, to silence and impoverishment, if in the end we all put a blindfold on and head towards problems, we will pay a price", he added.
"Bulgaria may" not support a specific figure in the elections, but in an informal setting it will indicate who it likes the most, said Iliev and indicated that he himself will not run because he does not have the years for this.
However, according to him, the topic of returning responsibility to Bulgarian politics is key.
"The presidential elections are essentially functionally meaningless. At the moment, the president is more of a silent letter, but symbolically it is very important for Rumen Radev to win these elections, to make a statement. I don't think that this is so important, but the goal is to win them. And I feel that the opposition is helping him," the leader of "Bulgaria Can" expressed his opinion. And he added:
"We are starting a conversation about the fact that the president should have a greater function".
According to the economic analyst, the government's management program is well written on paper:
"It goes into many topics, not in particular depth. There are no strategic general decisions. I don't think that the profile of "Progressive Bulgaria" is reformist. I look at this program - I see that not bad ideas have been taken from everywhere. I can't say that the fight against corruption is a bad thing or against the oligarchy, but the oligarchy does not fight the oligarchy, because under Mr. Radev, currently in "Progressive Bulgaria" we must clearly realize that we see a coalition government. He created a party after entering parliament. Inside the parliament, within his parliamentary group, there are different interest groups - different people who supported the campaign. In the ministries, it is evident that there are people who at one time were very clearly close to the oligarchs, people who were close as technocrats and to other political parties, but were still financed with some kind of black money from the oligarchs.
According to him, Bulgarians are no longer so interested in the topic of the oligarchy. And he explained:
"They have become extremely impoverished in the last 6 months. I believe that the effect of entering the eurozone and releasing huge amounts of credit and the effect of over-lending in the banking system - this money, in addition to property, also goes to shops - has made Bulgarians very poor. Bulgarians have become accustomed to the fact that there is corruption, they have become accustomed to the oligarchs and have placed their huge hopes on Rumen Radev that he will deal with their everyday problems. However, what we see is more of an attempt at PR in the public space. /.../ I think that Rumen Radev and his team have understood that it is difficult to fight the oligarchy - it is better to accept it. The question is can you control it?".
Kuzman Iliev also commented on the new formula for determining the minimum wage. According to him, it is a step in the right direction, but very small:
"This is desirable. Who will pay this minimum wage - that is the huge question. /.../ Now there is an opportunity for some negotiations, for some parameters closer to reality - regional, but the big goal from now on should be - for us to be in economic reality and to take into account sectoral differences, because there is a difference between different sectors".
In his words, due to the huge regional imbalances in Bulgaria, this minimum wage may be an obstacle in some places, in some places it may be low and inadequate. According to him, our goal should be to have flexibility by sector and region, which would provide a basic base, but be consistent with the capabilities of the Bulgarian economy.
"The topic of the minimum wage is important, but it is secondary to the big question - how to produce more, how to have people have higher real salaries and lift more people out of the poverty line, and not talk about how we will say by law - do not hire below this threshold".
Iliyev also raised the question of the shadow economy. Why is there such a large percentage of the shadow economy in Bulgaria and what makes the worker and the employer sit under the table and give each other money, he asked and answered himself:
"Because the Bulgarian economy is extremely politicized, because 45% of everything that we produce with you within the year is seized politically and spent - on airplanes, on ship missiles. When you take so many of those who work, at some point they are left without money. /.../ Paradoxically, when you have such a suffocation of the real economy in Bulgaria, this shadow economy that appears, it is an outlet, it is a symptom, it is a way of survival".