There is no scandal. It is clear that Bulgaria helps Ukraine where it can. With a lousy budget, with a deficit that is huge – there is no financial opportunity to help this year. Military aid has also run out, but the big question is that we need to think more about peace and diplomacy and this is the position of the Bulgarian state. This is how Deputy Prime Minister Atanas Pekanov commented in the studio of "The Day Begins with Georgi Lyubenov" the declaration from Kiev this week.
"Position, despite the hysteria that we hear in the media, in the end 45% of the people who voted for the president – Prime Minister Radev, more or less share this position. Because his position on this topic, that we must be balanced, that we must help and rather seek to calm this conflict, of course, that the aggression, the brutal war of Russia must be stopped - yes, but on the other hand, the approach that European leaders have adopted for years does not yield results. And the president, and now the prime minister, has been saying it for years. And obviously the majority of Bulgarians have agreed to this in order to vote for him - his position has always been like this", Pekanov emphasized.
In his words, Bulgaria has a voice in the European Union, but over the years it has not used it and has not defended it:
"We see in recent weeks, there were many questions a month ago - horror, now we will block the sanctions - no, we said what we thought, that was reflected, the other countries heard us and these sanctions would not have turned the war around. Sanctioning the patriarch would hardly have led Putin to rethink what he was doing. In the end, it would only have heated up the situation even more along religious lines. And in this sense, our opinion prevailed. There is nothing wrong even with imposing a veto."
According to the Deputy Prime Minister, the fears about the price increase after the adoption of the euro were partially justified:
"It turned out that the more skeptical reading was more correct. Partly because of the speculators. We saw what was happening in tourism. Restaurants made the worst possible scenario. When you equalize prices with Western Europe, you can hardly expect the same flow of tourists. If the tarator costs 9 euros, this will not get us anywhere."
Pekanov was categorical that the government has no intention of negotiating a new reduction in VAT for restaurateurs:
"We will not negotiate on VAT rates. This is not our policy. Administrative reform and better revenue collection are more important."
Regarding the European funds under the Recovery and Resilience Plan, Pekanov warned that there is very little time left to complete the projects:
"There are 45 days left. There is full mobilization in all ministries. The deadline is European and cannot be extended. Everything that is completed by August 31 will be accounted for. Whatever is not – there is no way it can be financed.
He also made a direct appeal to all contractors:
"I ask you to work around the clock. Don't wait for ministers, don't call me early in the morning and late at night, don't text me in capital letters and don't call my relatives. I can't extend European deadlines."
According to him, a number of projects have already been completed in recent weeks, including new schools, kindergartens, medical equipment, the eighth medical helicopter and new trains, but there are still delays in industrial zones, sanitation and other projects.
Pekanov said that the energy reform will not lead to an immediate shutdown of coal-fired power plants:
"In the short term, there will be no closure of coal-fired power plants. They should be kept as a cold reserve, but function on a market basis. They cannot accumulate about 100 million leva in losses every year, which Bulgarian taxpayers pay.
He specified that if the reforms are not implemented, Bulgaria risks losing about 437 million euros under the Recovery Plan.
The Deputy Prime Minister admitted that the current state of public finances is difficult, but according to him, all the necessary reforms cannot be made in four months:
"This budget shows the true picture in the country. The next budget will be different – there will be administrative reforms, optimizations, closing agencies and measures to brighten the economy. There is no way the current trajectory can continue."
Atanas Pekanov also commented on the development of the economy:
"Our goal should be for Bulgaria to have more champions – companies that are competitive on a global scale. We have them in the space sector, in artificial intelligence, in the defense industry. That's where we should look for our future."