The former Prime Minister of Bulgaria Kiril Petkov stated that the decision on the "Oil Industry of Serbia" (NIS) is "crystal clear", and the high fuel prices in Serbia indicate political interference and an attempt to influence the government, the portal from our western neighbor "Savremena Politika" reported.
„Use the sanctions to take control of the refinery and offer it to an open auction for the best Western operator who can provide the lowest fuel price for Serbia. The decision is completely clear“, Petkov said in an extensive interview with the publication.
Petkov pointed out that fuel prices in Serbia are “significantly higher than in Bulgaria“, and noted that “companies and citizens pay more because of this“, because “someone is trying to influence the government and the way the work will be done“.
“The intervention is taking place around a key Serbian resource, from which someone is currently making a huge profit. This is an excellent example of how the system works“, Petkov commented.
He also identified “corruption and Kremlin interference as the biggest problems in the Balkans“.
According to him, Russia uses “culture, education and decades of propaganda“ to influence political decisions, adding that the Balkans are “their sphere of interests“ and they “do not want the countries in the region to be in the European Union“.
Petkov added that “Russians work with corrupt politicians who sound pro-Western, but in practice work for Russian interests“, giving the example of Bulgaria.
“I was Prime Minister after Boyko Borisov, and Bulgaria was one hundred percent dependent on Russian gas, oil and nuclear fuel. I had 70 agents of the Russian Main Intelligence Directorate who were working all over Bulgaria – and whom we expelled“, said one of the founders of Continuing the Change
He expressed the opinion that corruption in the region allows politicians to “use public resources for their own benefit“, while part of society has an interest in the system remaining unchanged.
“The fault is not with the politicians. The question is how much our people are ready to tolerate corruption“, said Petkov.
In his words, the region “fails to function as a community of 65 million people“ due to historical reasons, as well as Russian interference and poor political elections.
Petkov said that the Balkans lacked political coordination and that opposition parties "often worked against each other" instead of forming a majority against corruption.