The pressure is from the citizens who expected us to make quick and bold reforms. We want to comply with the pressure of our fellow citizens who expect this. Otherwise, our joint administration with PP in the Metropolitan Municipal Council will end. This is what the municipal councilor from “Save Sofia” said in an interview for bTV. Boris Bonev.
Municipal councilor Boris Bonev gave an ultimatum to the capital's mayor Vasil Terziev yesterday, that if he does not fulfill several priorities, “Save Sofia” will leave the coalition.
For his part, Terziev commented today: “I don't think that trust has been lost. What matters is doing the important things for the city. There are no differences there. We want a fair competition for the chief architect. We have been making the budget since July. We will have a public discussion again. Revision of the management of GERB was the third point. This revision happens every day. For me, the support of any municipal councilor was never a given.“
“The chief architect of Sofia is not just an official. He is one man with a lot of power that can tip the scales towards preserving the public interest or allowing the corporate interest of the construction mafia and the few free spaces in the city to be redeveloped, he commented.
“A professional should be chosen - we want all this to happen faster and to have transparency. There is a misunderstanding that due to the large economic interests behind the construction in Sofia, one must approach it with the protection of the public interest, he explained.
According to him, the election of the capital's chief architect is delayed not because of malice on the part of Vasil Terziev and his team, but rather as a consequence of a lack of experience.
“Many people ask us why we do not show the abuses of GERD. We meet with them, but we don't tell them," Bonev also said.
„ Compliance with a coalition agreement is not an ultimatum. We have set five markers for whether in the next one year we will be able to fulfill those expectations that people have assigned to us. But if you ask me if it is pressure, it is definitely pressure, but from the citizens who expected us to make quick and bold reforms,” explained in the program “Face to Face” Boris Bonev.
„We want this to happen faster and to meet these expectations for transparency”, added Boris Bonev.
„The initial concept presented to us was not satisfactory. I attribute it not to malice, but rather to the lack of experience of people from Vasil Terziev's team”, the municipal councilor also explained.
The other four tags are:
- The 2025 budget – its focus is on parking lots, parks, investment in neighborhoods and transportation infrastructure;
- Revision of the management of GERB;
- A new structure of the Metropolitan Municipality, in which there will be a functional division of the various departments, in order to be able to do the work more efficiently;
- Much stricter contracts with the cleaning companies, which are about to be announced for over 1 billion BGN.
„These are the things people chose us for. Let's solve these problems and not deal with internal dramas and conflicts. There is no blood and spectacle in this communication between me and Mr. Terziev. Our relationship has always been extremely honest and will remain so. But we sound the alarm about cases that bother us”, explained Boris Bonev.