„A fake parliament, elected with fake elections, which has produced a fake government, also makes fake decisions. A survey by one of the agencies showed it – only 16% of Bulgarian citizens believe that these were fair elections, so the remaining 84% do not believe“.
This was stated by the leader of „Unruly Bulgaria“ Cornelia Ninova in the program „Delnici“ on Eurocom TV, emphasizing:
„Two things became clear from the Constitutional Court's decision on the elections: The first is that they were falsified, mostly by 3 parties, and the three ruling ones – GERB-SDF, BSP-OL, DPS Novo naklada, have the most signed votes. The second - that the real governor of the state is Delyan Peevski“.
In her words, with the reduction of the majority to 121 deputies, it has become imperative for Peevski to support the government openly. “He has been peeking behind this government and so far, he ordered it, but now he is already openly supporting the budget. Here, yesterday, a constitutional judge was also elected with his votes. So, the real prime minister is Delyan Peevski. Borisov is under pressure, BSP and ITN are the crutches in this government. They do not matter, they have been bought and subordinated anyway. This is the reality after the Constitutional Court decision“, commented Kornelia Ninova.
And in response to a question from the presenter Nikolay Kolev, she added: “Borisov's style is always to shift responsibility to someone else and for him to be all in white. But it's already becoming a parody. The prime minister came to secure a majority, the finance minister wasn't his, this government wasn't his - that's already a parody. When Vladislav Goranov was included in the "Magnitsky" list, he said: I don't know him. A joker," Ninova reacted.
According to her, public discontent has begun to find public expression - protests about income, about various crimes, about the lack of justice. Cornelia Ninova predicts that this government won't last long. “I believe that by the end of the year there will be new elections and then it's time for everything we see today to be swept away and for us to start building our country clean“.
Asked how she would comment on the BSP's behavior, Ninova said: “I'm even embarrassed. Today I saw that between 10 and 15 million leva were not voted on in the budget. for biomarkers for cancer patients. They voted against. How did you give them heart? Only the increase in their salaries is more than the money for these sick people who rely on it to live“, And added categorically: “They sold out. They sold ideas, they sold out the people who supported them. But this is their decision – we will see in the next elections what the result will be”.
About the budget: “I have made a budget both as a governing minister and as an opposition to Borisov. Every year we made alternative budgets. I don't understand everything, but I understand this and I have experience. This budget is now a lie from beginning to end. It is unrealistic. It is fake. And mark my word, this budget will be updated in June-July at the latest“, said Kornelia Ninova.
First of all, she pointed out that the budget includes 1.5 billion leva. from the PVU, which it is already known will not come. “Secondly, as European policy is going and Bulgaria supports it - it will be necessary to spend an additional about a billion on rearmament expenses this year, for the common European defense. Bulgaria is taking its share, the government has agreed, but there is no such money in the budget“, pointed out Kornelia Ninova.
She also gave an example with one, in her words, a good idea that she once submitted – for the state stores in the post offices. “In 2017 I submitted it for the first time, then there was such a howl against me – it was retrograde, it was socialist. Now when I look at them, it is not retrograde to them”, she pointed out, emphasizing: “Yes, in principle this idea is good – it is just that there is not a single lev in the budget for its implementation. And Temenuzhka Petkova, as the Minister of Finance, comes out and says: this will not affect the budget. How can you not, people - you have to equip these post offices, buy refrigerated display cases for products, hire a salaried person. These are expenses“, said Ninova.
“I define the budget as the most antisocial - it is a social freezer“, said Cornelia Ninova and gave examples with different social groups:
For young families and children: “Frozen maternity, frozen tax breaks for young parents, frozen children's. There were free medicines for children up to 7 years old, but only for two diseases and from October, for only 3 months. And they brag about it. Is this social policy?“, reacted Ninova, recalling:
“When we were in power, we returned the free textbooks, free kindergartens, one-time assistance when starting school“.
For working people: “Only burdens. The minimum and maximum insurance thresholds are increasing – i.e. working people will pay more insurance contributions. However, they will not receive a higher benefit if they remain unemployed, the unemployment benefit is frozen“, pointed out Cornelia Ninova.
The economy: “A blow to small, medium, micro and family businesses – VAT registration is being restored to 100 thousand leva. I'm not even talking about the additional administrative burden and paperwork that they will be burdened with. Incentives for economic development? None“, she pointed out.
For pensioners: “The Minister of Social Affairs comes out and says: you should be happy because we kept your income and did not reduce it. How impudent do you have to be with this growth in everything – water, electricity, heating, gas, food, to say: you should be happy that we did not reduce your income and this is a social achievement“, reacted Kornelia Ninova.
She was categorical: “This budget is a social freezer, a blow to the economy, especially to the backbone of the economy – small and medium-sized, family businesses, and a very big condition for theft and robbery“. And she gave the scandalous example:
“25 million euros cost one kilometer of highway. In neighboring Romania, the same kilometers are built for 15 million compared to 25 million for Bulgaria, much faster – in 6 months, not 6 years, and again by Bulgarian companies. So there it is, here it is. The companies are not to blame, the ones who set the conditions for the public procurement are to blame, because I can say with information that those who give them the public procurement want to return their money as a commission“, commented Kornelia Ninova.
In response to the host's remark, she said about the deputies in the current parliament: “They shouldn't be there because they were falsely elected. 16 deputies illegally from 2 thousand sections, and if all 12 thousand are counted? The people who committed these abuses in the SICs were sent by the parties. The parties that sent them there are responsible. Not to mention that these parties that the Constitutional Court caught writing votes did this intentionally, in an organized manner, and in the end, with all their impudence, they come out and criticize everyone else. Borisov has accused no one," commented Ninova.
In the words of the leader of “Unruly Bulgaria“ the deep problem in the elections and the trust in the elections, which must be restored, is something else: “This is a corporate, bought vote, which is done in an organized, strategically invented way, with people. This must stop. Whether it will be tied with a pig's tail or with some other knot, it is pointless to discuss if the other thing is not stopped, commented Cornelia Ninova.
Asked about the new parliamentary group, she said: “In the 50th parliament, we, part of the deputies - then from the BSP, later expelled, supported the appeal of “Velicie“ to the Constitutional Court and helped them in this process. It is good that this result was reached, but it is unfortunate that it is not the whole truth about the elections, because not all the ballots were counted“.
In the conversation about the eurozone: “New arguments are constantly coming up why we should not rush into the eurozone and be careful. Europe and Bulgaria in particular decided to make additional expenses for rearmament for its own European defense. Okay, Europe must have defense. But the solution is – these expenses should be kept below the line so that they do not increase the deficit. You will not increase it on paper, but in reality you will spend this money. In order to enter the eurozone, we will report on paper that we are at 3%, but at the same time the real economy and our lives will have a larger deficit. Who are they lying to?“, reacted Cornelia Ninova.
About the meeting in Brussels: “I hope Rosen Zhelyazkov defends the position that funds from the cohesion funds should not be transferred for rearmament – this is money for infrastructure, hospitals, etc. Because this will be a big blow to Bulgaria. It is not enough that we do not have the money under the PVP, if the unused money under the cohesion funds is also redirected, many sectors will suffer“, commented Ninova.
“There is not enough information about the Trump-Putin talks, but the direction, the decision that we are moving towards seeking peace is important“, said Ninova in the conversation.
Asked where the construction of “Unruly Bulgaria” is going, Cornelia Ninova said: “Forward and upward. I want to thank all the people in the country who are getting involved, filling out membership declarations, and signing up for registration, and what we have planned, to establish it at the end of April, will happen. Because every day we have arguments that there should and can be an alternative to what is happening in Bulgaria. We want this. We will be this alternative“, said Cornelia Ninova.