A proposal to suspend payments under the Recovery and Resilience Plan (RPP) due to the arrest of Varna Mayor Blagomir Kotsev - this is what the "Renew Europe" group insisted on in a letter to the European Commission.
"It is too ambitious to believe that such payments can be delayed because of a criminal case. What would worry Brussels is the topic of "Fair Justice". It concerns not only Bulgarian citizens, but also European institutions," said former Minister of Interior Prof. Veselin Vuchkov in "Denyat ON AIR".
Public attention due to this case has focused on whether he was arrested or not, instead of whether he is guilty, commented Prof. Vuchkov for Bulgaria ON AIR.
"I would not use the phrase "political prisoner", since I have not read the materials on the case. A lot of questions can be asked about it, and mainly whether the person can be detained for such an action. There is probably evidence collected in the case, but I cannot imagine how exactly the circumstances that require his detention were determined," he added.
According to him, there is a risk that the services will be dragged down the path of political speech.
"The big question is whether the prosecutor's office was not harnessed by some political processes. Back in time, we had an awful lot of such cases. If there are no signs of criminal activity, the responsible institutions must take responsibility. Over the years, the services have been used as bludgeons," the guest explained. The president is annoying the ruling party, which is why they want to take away an important right under the law, pointed out Prof. Veselin Vuchkov.
"I have information about serious personnel changes in the National Security Agency. The pale trust in the institutions is caused by them themselves. Taking away the president's right to transport is political hypocrisy. "The question with the changes in the National Security Service is not who will drive the president, but whether we need such a powerful militarized state security structure and whether it is necessary for people who do not hold public power to be protected by the Bulgarian army," he added.