The leader of "Democrats for a Strong Bulgaria" and Deputy Chairman of the 52nd National Assembly Atanas Atanasov defined political division as a serious mistake that weakens the opposition and makes decision-making difficult.
"This is a serious political mistake, because it means weakening the opposition. And when I say opposition – in this parliament, our parliamentary group should have been a united opposition. And it should have been the opposition, because on the one hand, GERB and MRF cowered in a corner after this debacle. And by the way, it is good to say here – you saw how they voted to elect the Speaker of the National Assembly. They voted without anyone asking them for support. On the other hand, “Vazrazhdane“ barely crossed the 4% barrier. We had over 60,000 votes more than in the previous elections. And we have had constant opposition behavior. We should have been the opposition", said Atanasov.
“Throughout the existence of this coalition, and also during the "Democratic Bulgaria" coalition, of which we are a part - by the way, this is the longest-standing coalition in Bulgaria since 1989 - I have always made every effort I can to get together. Because the National Assembly building says "Unity is strength". Here too I made a lot of efforts, but apparently I failed", said Atanasov.
“Unfortunately, after Kiril Petkov left politics and a circle of his relatives, some of whom were also members of parliament, withdrew, the communication changed. And I would say that the coalition started to function very difficultly, which led to the fact that the possibilities for decision-making were almost blocked. This is the truth. Otherwise, all other explanations for ideological differences - this is frivolous", he also said.
Atanasov also commented on the internal tensions: “You know this maxim that when final decisions are made and when politics is being done, it is best not to peek in there, because then the “hot dogs” may not be consumed. For this reason, information should not be leaked from the relationship, but this watershed has occurred anyway.“
„Our electorate, the people who voted for us, have the right to understand why this situation has come to this”, Atanasov stated.
„In a coalition, in a party, in order for decisions to be made, there must be dialogue, there must be disputes, but a common solution must be found. Such decisions cannot be sought or imposed through public pressure and such type of public relations. That is why I told you that communication within the coalition was disrupted, which led to situations in which extremely important decisions could not be made or were made difficult”, Atanasov further commented.
„Our request during the campaign was – we want power. We want power because we were firmly in opposition, because we provoked the protests, because we led the protests and expected to receive the necessary support.“
“After the elections, of course, we all stated together or separately that we would be a consistent opposition. The point is that the assessment should be based on deeds, not on requests”, he further commented.
Atanasov was critical of the leader of "Progressive Bulgaria": “I think that Rumen Radev was slightly hypocritical in being worried about our split, because this split creates comfort for the ruling party and provides an opportunity for negotiations separately.“
“Always with Europe, never against Russia – I paraphrase so that the behavior of Radev and this political force can be understood. The dependencies that are beginning to show through on Russian interests in Bulgaria are a risk to Bulgarian national security."
Regarding the presidential elections, Atanasov commented that if we have Rumen Radev as Prime Minister and Iliana Yotova as President in Bulgaria in the fall - all power in one hand..