„Words and commitments must matter – otherwise we will destroy trust and voter turnout“, told former Interior Minister Prof. Veselin Vuchkov.
According to him, the coalition cannot survive without the votes of the DPS, and in the coming days „we will see whether the door to real participation in power will open“.
„Public opinion is currently being tested – including by leaders we saw at press conferences, on whether the door to real participation in the executive branch of „DPS - New Beginning“ and of Delyan Peevski's deputies and ministers should be opened more widely. There is no final decision yet“, pointed out Prof. Vuchkov.
According to him, the government would hardly survive without the support of “DPS - New Beginning“, and the more “honest“ option could be the movement's official participation in the executive branch – with the risk of this throwing other partners off the stage.
“With him, there is always a second plan and a look ahead. In our ultra-recent history, there is no other political phenomenon – to provoke protests, then lead them and finally emerge victorious“, commented Vuchkov.
Prof. Vuchkov recalled the key period of 2013-2014 and added that the second GERB cabinet began with compromises regarding the leadership of the services – reason for him to resign as Minister of the Interior himself.
„After we built throughout the election campaign, in the fall of 2014, and believe me, I was a very active participant then in writing programs, although a non-party member, it was built on the fact that we will dismantle this conquered state. We will return presidential powers to appoint heads of services. And only after 4 months he says „no“, you will not touch these three, you will do all the reforms through them. I don't know at the time whether he knew Mr. Pevski, whether they worked together at that key moment, but this was truly a key moment, because the GERB political party itself was subjected to extreme repression for 14 months. And it should be known that even the survival of the parliamentary group, the preservation of the potential to continue governing in the coming years, is primarily due to these protests that were all over Bulgaria“, he said.
They had a conversation with Borisov during this period, according to Vuchkov.
“A short conversation afterwards, in which I said that I was leaving, I would not be an MP, not only a minister, I could not work in such an unbearable situation, to completely betray the voters. He did not explain to me why he held these three. Extremely important posts, do not forget them to remain working as a GERB team, imagine. But what happened then, I cannot say. These were people specially installed by the behind-the-scenes state. At that time, Peevski did not have such strong and clear positions. He was part of Mr. Ahmed Dogan's party," he explained.
Vuchkov also commented on the local vote in Pazardzhik.
"A complete failure of prevention. Operational work was lacking – this was evident during election day," he said of what happened in Pazardzhik.
According to him, some of the regional directors appointed in the previous mandate are still in their posts, and this is “dangerous“ in a pre-election environment.
The temporary suspension of the director in Pazardzhik “in itself means nothing – he may return after the inspection“.
Prof. Vuchkov defined the series of changes related to presidential powers as a “special legislative operation“ towards the presidential institution:
„Statehood is collapsing: there is a reduction in powers, the „House Book“, and now official cars for the administration of „Dondukov“ 2. This is not a balanced approach.“
He defended the old model of appointments in the State National Security Agency – with the joint participation of the president and the Council of Ministers – as „a balance that has worked for 30 years“.
Vuchkov called for reform of the National Security Service: „A smaller, clearer, even non-militarized structure, focused on senior state positions.“
He reminded of legal „loopholes“ (2015 and 2020), which allowed for the protection of persons without public office and overlap with the Ministry of Internal Affairs/Gendarmerie: “This is how public funds are spent wastefully and tools for political self-dealing are created.“