I don't know, I didn't hear, I didn't see – but the work in the Sofia Municipality is going on

I don't know, I didn't hear, I didn't see – the work in the Sofia Municipality is going on… Apparently this is the working mantra in the Sofia Municipality under Mayor Vasil Terziev. His deputies are leaving, municipal councilors from “We continue the change“ are leaving, district mayors are leaving, but otherwise everything is fine in the municipality. Building permits are going on – and we were going to fight overbuilding, people in public transport blocked the capital for 300 leva more and received them from the cabinet through Boyko Borisov, the companies that collect garbage are preparing for strikes in the fall, but otherwise everything in the municipality is fine. Sofia is developing.

I don't know
There is no way to comment on the departure of Sofia's Deputy Mayor for Finance Ivan Vassilev, because Terziev chooses his own team. This was stated by the chairman of the PP Asen Vassilev.

„What happens to the team of the Sofia Municipality is a question for Mayor Vasil Terziev. As I have always said, every person who has taken on the burden of leading a given institution has the right to choose his own team and who will work in it“, added Asen Vassilev.

But about the arrest of the other Deputy Mayor Nikola Barbutov, we seem to have forgotten that there is protection there from “a person in parliament who has immunity“. As is known, Deputy Mayor Ivan Vassilev announced that he had informed the Mayor of Sofia Municipality Vasil Terziev of his desire to leave the post.

“I will remain in office until the case related to the change of the municipality's servicing bank is resolved“, Vassilev added.

Ivan Vassilev announced his decision days after it became clear that Municipal Bank itself had requested to unilaterally terminate its relations with the Sofia Municipality, as it did not want to be involved in political discussions. Such a situation flared up in the last week, after Mayor Vasil Terziev asked the Municipal Council to vote on a decision to change the municipality's servicing bank.

Ivan Vassilev was the first to publicly comment on the topic, politically and practically attacking the mayor's coalition partners from "We Continue the Change" (PP). The reason was that the decision to replace the Municipal Bank was postponed at the suggestion of the municipal councilor from the PP Blagovesta Kenarova. This caused a sharp reaction from first Ivan Vassilev, and then Kenarova was defended by the PP leader Asen Vassilev and by Mayor Vasil Terziev.

I didn't hear
It is not clear whether Ivan Vassilev's decision to leave has any connection with this case, which led to another crack in the coalition between the PP, "Democratic Bulgaria" and Vasil Terziev in Sofia. If we go back in time, Ivan Vassilev was part of Vasil Terziev's election headquarters while he was a mayoral candidate for "United for Sofia". After that, he became deputy mayor with the portfolio of finance and healthcare. Initially, another person was nominated for the position. Subsequently, Ivan Vassilev emerged as one of the closest to Mayor Vasil Terziev. He also temporarily took over the construction after Ivan Matov left, who also left without clear motives.

I didn't see
However, it is clear that there is an organization in Sofia and the deal there is quite clear. The big sponsor of PP-DP was made mayor, and then he was released from his obligations to be a sponsor. This was announced to FAKTI by media expert Diana Damyanova a few days ago. Why are we returning to her interview…

Because PP needs money. And after the “main sponsor has become mayor“, money is being sought from other sponsors. But this falls under the "I didn't see" category. Because the search for sponsors can be interpreted in many ways.

So the mayor has no way of knowing what his deputy is doing, right? It's so simple and logical. Otherwise, it's good to work on the "I don't know, I didn't hear, I didn't see" principle, so that work in the Sofia Municipality can go on, even though sometimes they take out a deputy mayor and put him in custody, only to later prove that he is innocent.

This is a style and way of working in the state. There, "I don't know, I didn't hear, I didn't see" is interpreted in a different way... But that's another topic. However, people see how things work and what happens. Hopefully there are lessons to be learned from this.