PR expert Diana Damyanova commented on the program “Offensive“ on Nova News about the current political processes, the caretaker government and the impact of the “Petrohan“ case on the upcoming elections.
According to her, Andrey Gyurov fell victim to the circumstance that when occupying a key public position, it is necessary to carefully check the past of the people in the team. According to Damyanova, when a person holds a high position, he must insist on demanding from his appointees to reveal “everything dirty from his wardrobe“, because everyone has something in their past that could be a problem.
She asked whether Gyurov had sought complete information about the past of his appointee Stoil Tsitselkov. If he had asked this question but had not received correct information, then in her opinion he had been misled. According to her, Tsitselkov had not fulfilled his commitment to reveal his previous wrongdoings.
Damyanova expressed the opinion that Rumen Radev's serious influence was evident in the formation of the caretaker cabinet. According to her, Radev is looking for possible future partners after the elections, since he will not have a sufficient majority to be the first political force in parliament. She believes that such a majority would be difficult to find in the face of GERB.
Regarding Gyurov's meeting with students who participated in the protests in December, Damyanova interprets his appearance as a sign of direct contact with the leadership of "Continuing Change - Democratic Bulgaria". According to her, this was an attempt to mobilize young voters from the Gen Z generation. A comment was also made on the topic of Andrey Yankulov's actions related to the desire to remove Acting Prosecutor General Borislav Sarafov. According to Damyanova, such attempts are not being made for the first time and are unlikely to lead to a breakthrough, despite the possibility of convening the Supreme Judicial Council.
She described Gyurov as closer to Kiril Petkov's camp than to that of Assen Vassilev, and does not expect serious influence from Vassilev in this particular case.
According to her, the government will encounter difficulties in building a unified communication line. As a surprise, she pointed out the appointments in the culture and education ministries, which, according to her, are occupied by exceptional erudites, whose participation in the official cabinet she did not expect. Damyanova also commented on the information that Emil Dechev has requested the removal of the Secretary General of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and investigators in the "Petrohan" case. According to her, one possible goal is a large-scale change of leadership in the Ministry of Internal Affairs with the argument of limiting party influence on the election process. The other hypothesis is an attempt to "cover up" the case and consider it after the elections.
She believes that the topic of "Petrohan" will negatively affect the "Continuing Change - Democratic Bulgaria" vote. Damyanova stated that, in her opinion, part of the political circle around the current government has an interest in postponing the development of "Petrohan" until after the elections.