We at "Continuing the Change" do not know that an Initiative Committee is being formed to nominate Andrey Gyurov as a presidential candidate.
This was stated to the Bulgarian National Radio by lawyer Velislav Velichkov, a deputy from the PP's PG, and he asked the chairman of DSB and deputy from the PG of "Democratic Bulgaria" Atanas Atanasov how he knew about what he announced in an interview on BNT on Saturday.
"I would advise the party leaders not to participate in this conversation at this time, it is not their place to say whether an EC is being formed and who their candidate is. ... These issues are being discussed in the public sphere, and at the same time, no one has heard what Andrey Gyurov thinks. He has not said whether he agrees to be a candidate for president and how he plans to be promoted if he agrees. Some kind of fishing line has been thrown into a sea that does not yet exist. I heard what Gen. Atanasov said yesterday, but this is his personal opinion. I will ask him next week how he knows that an IC is being formed. Gyurov is a man of extremely high professionalism, proven, and he knows best, if he thinks of doing something, when and how to announce it".
He recalled that there is a signed agreement between the Forum for Democratic Action and the leaders of the PP and the DB, and talks are also underway with other parties.
"This agreement is valid and must be respected in order to reach a good result in the presidential elections and a president from the democratic community. If all power is concentrated in Rumen Radev - legislative, executive and presidential - we will have all the prerequisites and beginnings for authoritarian rule and unilateral decision-making. This is very dangerous for the parliamentary republic, "said Velichkov.
In the program "Nedelya 150" Velislav Velichkov commented on Prime Minister Rumen Radev's statement that Bulgaria would veto the 21st sanctions package against Russia if Patriarch Kirill was not removed from it, emphasizing that he should be viewed as a political figure defending Putin's offensive war in Ukraine, and not as a religious figure.
"When he came to Bulgaria 7-8 years ago, he caused almost a diplomatic scandal with unmeasured political statements, and it was precisely the president at that time, Rumen Radev, who said that he came as a clergyman, but chose to leave as a politician. If the Russian Patriarch is a politician and defends the violation of international law and undeclared wars on foreign territory, then the EU cannot treat him as a representative of the higher clergy. ... Religion should be embodied by individuals who have been devoted to it all their lives, and not by KGB colonels. Col. Gundyaev is the name of Patriarch Kirill. It is no coincidence that he blesses weapons with which an aggressive, offensive war is waged on the territory of another country and a peaceful population is massacred, because the weapons are in his head and his affiliation is more with the KGB than with the Orthodox Church.
I have the unpleasant feeling that Viktor Orban's place is starting to be taken by Rumen Radev and Bulgaria is getting into very unpleasant company and there are strong doubts about its European integrity, he said and added.
"I have not heard any other head of state from any EU country express an opinion that he will oppose the new sanctions package, given that Russian missiles are falling on apartment blocks and historic churches. ... But Mr. Radev also included another person (whose name he will insist on being removed from the sanctions) - Vagit Alekperov, who is a well-known businessman, long-time head of "Gazprom", a direct follower of Putin's economic policy and doctrine, which led to the offensive war. Even I am surprised that Alekperov has not been on the sanctions lists so far.
Prime Minister Radev is starting to protect the senior representatives of the Russian state, contrary to the interests of Bulgaria, Velichkov believes.
The PP MP also commented on the chances for a quick and high-quality election of a new composition of the Supreme Judicial Council, which will elect a new Prosecutor General and Chairman of the Supreme Administrative Court.
"The speed factor is already under huge question. ... Rushing through the texts in the Legal Committee led to the elimination of many things. Almost all the opposition's proposals were eliminated. ... There are concerns that we have no guarantees for an independent election of the Supreme Judicial Council".
If the distribution of the 11 members from the parliamentary quota is based on party quotas, we from the PP will not give our votes and there will be no 160, he said.
"The rules and criteria for candidates are yet to be adopted. We proposed that they be in the JSA, not in separate rules, but that was not adopted either. According to these rules and criteria, we will find out next month what kind of people the PB is going to elect to the SJC and we will raise enough alarm if we recognize that something is supposedly changing so that everything remains the same," Velichkov specified.