The political processes in Bulgaria are commented on in "The Network" on the "Hristo Botev" program Veselin Stoynev, author at DW and deputy editor-in-chief of "Bi Global".
Dzhevdzhet Chakarov and Delyan Peevski and why the trials in the DPS are important
"They are important because with Mr. Chakarov's move, the opportunity to save the "DPS" brand has finally fallen, because in fact this is not a political move.
In Chakarov's move, and these photos, which turned into photos in a barbershop, because today there is another photo, another MP, a lady who also went to Peevski. And all this is being made public through these photos on the "new beginning" website, in which Peevski is standing, and next to him in another photo is another of his political hostages. Terrorists, when they kidnap someone, always take a picture of them before taking their head.
In this case, the hostages are beheaded politically, because these are people who have not retreated to their own party cores, leadership, voters, but have gone directly to the opposing army, with which they were at war until yesterday. Why? Because they are being blackmailed, because they are dependent. It becomes clear to Chakarov that this is happening through his son Sami Chakarov, who has shares and is part of the management in about 40 companies that have over 150 million, according to publications by "Capital" and other media outlets, which were seized by the Sofia City Court just before May 24.
At the signal of the KPKOMPI and by action of the prosecutor's office. Every normal citizen should ask himself, is it just now that it is becoming clear about these companies, is it just now that the possible legal violations of Chakarov-son, and perhaps father, have come to light. And don't the same prosecutor's office and the KPCOMPI notice that there are also such things as "Bulgartabac", CorpBank?
So this is not an internal problem, nor is it political. It is a perversion of politics, because power structures are obviously being used for their intended purpose."
Atanaska Disheva, "The Eight Dwarfs" and the subjective feeling of citizens
"This is comical and cynical. And when Judge Disheva asked Borislav Sarafov what was happening in the CorpBank and "The Eight Dwarfs" cases, he asked if her husband was not the founder of DB. Why didn't he also ask her if her husband didn't pick up junk food as a child in the neighboring yard? Besides, "Yes, Bulgaria" is not a terrorist organization, it is not Hamas. And Mrs. Disheva's husband was not a member of a terrorist organization."
The commonality between the processes
"If we look at what is happening in the local government, we see that Peevski first takes over what is, so to speak, the MRF's own arsenal. Let's say that the issue will be resolved by the next elections and he will lay his hands on the entire MRF as we knew it so far. But he continues the expansion outside the MRF. For example, the last mayor who is photographed there in the "Delyan barbershop" is the mayor of Gorna Oryahovitsa, who is not from the MRF, nor from GERB.
This is the mayor of a relatively large city, of a large municipality, and this is indicative that Peevski will not refuse to limit himself only to the so-called "enclaves of the MRF". Local government is an extremely good springboard for political influence and the threat to GERB comes from the fact that it is the party with the strongest positions in local government. The attack on Sofia and Varna, where GERB lost mayoralties and majorities, i.e. GERB is trying to return not just to get revenge, but because it is threatened by Peevski. If its power is eroded in the regional cities, then GERB will lose strong electoral influence at the national level.
It is no longer a secret that Peevski is openly participating in this government, and all municipalities in the country, not to mention that a large part of them are quite poor, are heavily dependent on subsidies from the central budget. They cannot do anything without these subsidies. There is no mayor who cannot be hit in some way."
Peevski is preparing to be prime minister – What is the logic of him standing at the top, where he will have to bear full responsibility?
"Because the point is, as in business. Accumulating capital is an end in itself, and it is not to earn one, two, three million. You do it for the sake of the business itself, the game itself, the work itself. You cannot, if you have become a multimillionaire, a hundred million, spend it through consumption. The human alimentary and excretory system is not infinite. You can drink wine for 100 leva, you can drink for 10 thousand leva, whatever.
That is not the motive. The motive is for capital to multiply. In the same way, political influence feeds this appetite, it must increase. Moreover, when political influence increases, the opportunities for influence and control increase accordingly.
Let's remember in 2013, why did Peevski want to become the head of the National Security Agency?
"At that time, this gathered a huge crowd of people in the Triangle of Power, and Peevski, who had only been in office for two days, was not clear whether he had formally taken over the function. If he now becomes prime minister, I bet hundreds of thousands of people would take to the streets. This cannot happen, it cannot be swallowed.
The question is whether citizens and parties will wait until then. And then only before the final threat will they realize the size of the problem. Because at the moment, Peevski's legitimacy comes from those he is chasing, and from the fact that they are the same as him. The point is that this thing is called a "taken over state".
This state and today's institutions are definitely working in the non-public interest.
So this is the big threat and people will realize it and react, but then it will be too late."
The head of the National Security Agency
"Can someone explain how a person in the prime of his powers, of his career like Plamen Tonchev, managing the most powerful service in Bulgaria, which knows all the secrets of the political business and the elite and their secret connections, suddenly decides that he will go and retire to the Commission on Dossiers. And he doesn't say a word about why he is doing it? He is obviously dependent, he is obviously forced to vacate his position. So it is difficult for him to accept a salary of 10 thousand leva for a small reward. Like in the days of socialism, when they removed a minister or a member of the Politburo, they sent him as an ambassador somewhere."
Here are these tentacles of the state that concern all citizens. They do not concern some MRF
"Peevski's expansion is indeed such, especially since the corruption of civil honor is becoming more and more obvious and venal. We have entire committees that do not do their job, we have many people who sell themselves for nothing. What could be easier than to be bought by such a person or to be forced in one way or another, because in local communities, people's work, people's businesses depend a lot on local rulers."
Choking from overeating
"Overeating will sooner or later lead to choking. The question is whether then there will be ready-made structures, civil and political, that will normalize things. Could it turn out that it is so late, that everything is so ruined, that at some point we will find ourselves, as they say, without Peevski, in an absolutely destroyed minefield and society?
Without values and with such cynicism as all the mascaras wear. And then it will turn out that nothing is happening, that there is no point in doing anything at all.
The question is why it has to come to that point, when things are already too clear, too disgusting, why don't people understand that they are actually being robbed in this way? This is their country. These are their prospects for a better life, for better business, for better representation.
The Bulgarian Turks themselves, who in recent decades have been going out and are now more economically autonomous, feel unrepresented by these parties. But they should find representation in normal Bulgarian political parties, and not behave like an enclave on whose back they parasitize."