„I received an SMS from Ivan Ivanova last Monday (May 19) after my remark: „People are fed up with excuses“. The SMS read: „I can offer you the place of Valchev (Yordan Valchev, Chairman of the Board of Directors of RIA), if he will solve a number of problems. From the broadcast on bTV on Sunday, I learned that apparently Minister Ivanov was serious. This was said in the program „Face to Face“ Diana Rusinova, European Center for Transport Policies.
In the program „This Sunday“ On May 25, the Minister of Regional Development Ivan Ivanov announced that he had invited Rusinova to head the Agency “Road Infrastructure“ (API), but she refused on the grounds that it was not serious.
Rusinova explained that after what Ivanov said, she gathered the team of the non-governmental organization she heads and they discussed the issue.
“We discussed at length the question of whether I could neglect my commitments to the ECTP and other organizations in order to help the state at a time when there is an obvious need to replace the chairman of the RIA. That is why I wrote an official letter, which was sent to the secretariat of the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works (MRDPW) and to the secretariat of the Council of Ministers.
I was not expecting a Facebook post - after all, I accept such a serious and responsible role. Believe me, it is not my childhood dream to become the chairman of the Board of Directors of the RIA - one of the most difficult and serious organizations in Bulgaria, full of problems and a heavy legacy that will be very difficult to manage. Despite everything, I am one of those people who do not run away from responsibility and it is really high time to stop just talking about the topic. I have made a commitment to do something concrete“, commented Rusinova.
The post on Facebook of the regional minister Ivan Ivanov from today read: “Serious proposals are made once. I have accepted the reasons of Ms. Rusinova that she is part of the non-governmental sector, where she has serious commitments. I do not see how they have changed in a week“.
“Mr. Ivanov has screwed up today not only with the non-governmental sector, he has screwed up with road safety – he has screwed up with all those people who travel on our terrible roads. "Dozens of people wrote to me in the hope that something would change. It turns out that Mr. Ivanov cannot change the janitor at the MRDPW, or it doesn't depend on him," Diana Rusinova also said.