As for a person who never lies (in his own words), yesterday Borisov said so many untrue and misleading things that I almost thought he was lying. But he probably just lives in a parallel reality. This monologue contained so many misconceptions that it would not be productive to refute them all, but some more basic ones deserve to be pointed out. At least because the person who was standing in the chair opposite Borisov during the monologue did not counter them.
This was written on "Facebook" by the co-chair of "Yes, Bulgaria" Bozhidar Bozhanov.
1. Borisov's main saving thesis is that he is not dependent on Peevski, but because of the PP-DB he had to rely on him, and Peevski became strong after the PP-DB abandoned GERB for the rotation.
It is quite easy to verify that this is a lie. That both during the negotiations for the rotation and during the negotiations in the current parliament, GERB terminated the negotiations. Few people probably remember why now, but the headlines "GERB terminated the negotiations" stand.
Well, GERB terminated the negotiations when it became clear that we wanted to isolate Peevski's influence. The rotation failed because we insisted that the new Supreme Judicial Council be elected without Peevski. The negotiations last winter failed because we wanted to implement the cordon sanitaire and we did not back down from that.
But Borisov was afraid in both cases. Because he is dependent on Peevski. Now, apparently, the tactic is for Peevski to go into a “Dubai regime“, as happened in 2020 – he was an ordinary MP who is gone – went to Dubai. And to be used only transactionally, and not fully, as happened in this parliament. But that will not work – we will be there, to shine a light on this toxic dependency for the country.
2. The government fell because everyone except GERB went too far. And because the partners in the government were misled by the bad language of PP-DB. To say the latter about DPS and ITN, who have the most vulgar language in parliament for years, is inadequate. I will not comment on the language of GERB and Borisov, but the fact that someone was offended again and that is why something happened in the government of the country is rather discrediting for GERB – they are still offended and therefore do not do otherwise correct things.
And to say that GERB did not go too far, while it uncomplainingly served all the excesses, is at the very least poor judgment. To explain how the government fell because of the arrest of the mayor of Varna, but GERB continuing to refuse to sign the request for the resignation of Anton Slavchev (who led these arrests) is hypocrisy.
3. Eurozone, Schengen and a monitoring mechanism - Borisov believes that he has achieved all three and will probably repeat it in the coming months. The reality is completely different. The Denkov cabinet got us into Schengen, after GERB plastered a building for 10 years.
First by air, with a commitment to go overland a year later, which is what happened, and during a caretaker cabinet. Part of the demands of the Netherlands and Austria were related to the rule of law, and were covered by the changes in the chapter "Judicial Power" of the Constitution. Which the people of GERB and Peevski in the Constitutional Court later repealed.
Regarding the monitoring of the Council of Europe - the report on its abolition is from 2024, after an enormous amount of work was done in both the PP and DB cabinets. And laws were adopted that GERB refused to vote on for many years, but under our pressure it still voted - e.g. for the investigation of the Prosecutor General. To brag about something that you sabotaged, just because the formal final act happened during your time, is impudent even for Borisov.
As for the eurozone - it is the fruit of the work of many governments, including those of GERB, but far from only them. I remembered the other day the debate and voting in the Petkov cabinet on the plan to introduce the euro. When the BSP and ITN were against it, but the PP and DB had more votes in the Council of Ministers. I remember again the beginning of this cabinet, when both the Ministry of Finance and Borissov said that they would delay the extraordinary convergence report (Borissov had said after the budget, the Ministry of Finance and the coalition partners - when we meet the criteria), which would have meant in practice that we would not be in the eurozone in 2026. Our enormous pressure then was an important factor that forced them to demand the convergence report and today we are in the eurozone that he claims.
4. “The PVU was a failure, GERB saved it“. Here too, the headlines and documents in the registry speak for themselves. For a year, GERB refused to vote on 2 laws and 1 decision of the National Assembly, which were the last points for the second payment. I'm starting to think it was intentional, so they could say later "in our time the second payment came."
5. Borisov boasts about the GDP growth since 2009 - i.e. since GERB appeared. If we open the data, we will see that GDP was 52 billion dollars in 2009 and 70 billion in 2020 - the last year of GERB's rule. And in 2024 it is 113 billion. That is, under GERB the growth was 18 billion, and in the “last 4 years of chaos and timelessness“ (as they define the period in which there were 2 of our governments), the growth is 43 billion. Of course, there are so many factors (Covid, global economic crisis, etc.) that such comparisons are not correct to make based only on these numbers, but when you boast about nominal GDP growth, it is good to assess these gaps in your thesis.
6. The suggestion that in PP-DB we have some apartments received from the “party“ (BCP), and he only had the house in Bankya – none of the current or former chairmen of the three parties in our coalition has inherited an apartment in the center of Sofia, acquired thanks to some communist connections. Borisov is raving again and trying to wash away his own sins.
Borisov will clearly play a moderate, calm, centrist concerned about the future. But all his theaters are already clear and they are tired. Because underneath, the dependence on Peevski is always visible and the fact that the two of them in tandem, defending and nurturing the corrupt model of illegitimate exercise of power, are the cause of the political crisis we have been in for years.