“The presidential institution is not a barricade. The President and Vice President are not commentators who come out and are the first to say what they think. You have to listen and form an opinion after you have heard everything.“ This was stated by the candidate for Vice President Kiril Valchev on bTV.
He commented on the war in Ukraine and the situation of the Bulgarian communities there, the institution of pardon, the need for changes in the rules for expert opinions, as well as his understanding of the role of the presidential institution.
Valchev spoke about his visits to Ukraine and his experiences during the war. According to him, he spent hours in bomb shelters 14 times and saw drones over Odessa.
He also shared about a visit to the Bolgrad High School, where he spent more than an hour with children in a bomb shelter, which in peacetime is their canteen.
“This must end“, said Valchev.
According to him, Bulgaria must insist that the rights of Bulgarian communities be guaranteed regardless of whose control the territories in which they live are under.
Among these, he pointed out the opportunity for Bulgarians to study Bulgarian language, history and geography, to preserve their folklore and traditions, as well as to have their own churches and schools.
According to Valchev, our country must also think about the period after the end of the war.
“This war will end. God willing, it will be sooner. When it ends, the territory of Ukraine will have to be restored,“ he said.
According to him, the regions inhabited by Bulgarians allow Bulgaria to participate directly in the reconstruction.
As an example, Valchev gave the road to Zadunaevka - the village where Hristo Botev was a teacher. According to him, Bulgarian companies could participate in the construction and restoration of such infrastructure.
He also emphasized the importance of Bulgarian communities abroad in the conditions of demographic problems in our country. According to him, a large part of the historical Bulgarian communities live precisely in Bessarabia, Ukraine and Moldova.
On the pardon: “Innocents are not pardoned“
Vulchev also commented on Iliyana Yotova's decision to pardon Ognyan Atanasov.
When asked whether the decision was a mistake, he said that he could not give such an assessment because he did not know the specific case and the expert reports.
“I cannot say because I do not know the case itself. I don't know the expert reports," he pointed out.
Valchev defended the existence of the institution of pardon.
"Innocent people are not pardoned," he said, adding that the idea of pardoning is to show mercy to a person who is guilty.
According to him, the preliminary exclusion of certain categories of convicted persons from the possibility of pardon would be problematic. He also referred to a decision of the Constitutional Court from 2012.
Proposes clearer rules for pardons
According to the vice-presidential candidate, the public dispute can be used to change the procedure.
Vulchev suggests that after the elections, the possibility of discussing the rules related to expert opinions in pardons be regulated by law.
He recalled that former vice-president Margarita Popova introduced a clearer regulation by decree, but according to him, the procedure could be discussed in the Law on the Execution of Sentences.
Vulchev also raised the broader question of judicial expert opinions and the conditions under which seriously ill people serve sentences in Bulgarian prisons.
According to him, the basis of this conversation is trust – including the trust in medical specialists who provide expert conclusions on the condition of those deprived of their liberty.
The vice-presidential candidate also commented on the thesis of his political opponents that the possible election of the Yotova-Valchev couple would mean a continuation of the current government.
According to him, two different concepts of the role of the institution are clashing in the presidential race.
„One is formulated as „corrective“. The other, which we advocate with Mrs. Yotova, is „consent“, he said.
Valchev gave the presidential veto as an example. According to him, the point is not for the president to permanently block a law, but to return it to the National Assembly for new discussion.
“I read the Constitution as opportunities for agreement that the presidential institution should provide“, he said.
Valchev was also asked whether he would advise Iliana Yotova to convene the National Security Advisory Council.
“As a vice-presidential candidate, I would not advise it“, he replied.
And he added that he did not consider such a step to be reasonable during an election campaign.
According to him, however, regular dialogue within the framework of the CCNS should be restored and a way should be sought for its meetings to lead to a more fruitful dialogue.
“What these consultative councils have not achieved in all the years, under all the presidents, is in many cases a fruitful dialogue“, said Kiril Valchev.