We proposed Mr. Barbutov to Mayor Vasil Terziev. This was stated on „This Morning“ by the chairman of „We Continue the Change“(PP) Asen Vassilev in his first television interview after the corruption scandal in Sofia Municipality – which became the reason for Kiril Petkov to resign as an MP and co-chairman of the party.
The deputy mayor of Sofia Nikola Barbutov was arrested and charged with taking bribes and participating in an organized criminal group. Vassilev expressed doubts about the authenticity of the recording revealing the corruption scheme, because everyone denies being its authors.
„What I saw in the recording is absolutely unacceptable. A conversation between a deputy mayor of Sofia Municipality and a mayor of a district in which they agree to they are making a corruption scheme. If it is true, this is subject to trial. (…) Mr. Barbutov is responsible for his actions, the recording says that the party leadership does not know about this thing“, he added.
Assen Vassilev admitted that Kiril Petkov had called the district mayor of “Lyulin“ Georgi Todorov to propose Lena Borislavova's husband, Miroslav Ivanov, as his deputy. However, he added that he had also called other district administrations in Sofia to “look for work“ and for other PP cadres who remained outside the parliament. According to him, there is nothing wrong with this.
“It is bad if you tell this mayor: “If you don't appoint this one, something bad will happen to you“. But I have not heard such a thing. Experts, people who were in PP and most of them were former MPs. As a response, we have encountered: “I don't need such a person“ and the conversation ends. This is not pressure“, the politician said.
The PP chairman noticed external interference in the actions of the district mayors, because he sees no reason to share about these conversations nearly a year after they took place and explained that in his opinion “some people are putting words in their mouths“. According to him, whether there are corrupt cadres in the party is the job of the investigative bodies. Vassilev said that none of the district mayors who claim that they were pressured - was appointed, but elected.
“Boyko Borisov calls a district mayor of GERB and says: “Appoint X” and he says: “Oh, I won't appoint anything, look "... do your job". Is this pressure? It is pressure if a person is forced to do something. There are some people who we know are good specialists, if you need them in your team - keep them in mind", said the politician.
Vasilev also said that an audit of public procurements organized by PP mayors is being conducted. He added that they have discovered irregularities - companies were illegally eliminated. He was categorical that the winners did not help the party in any way. Vasilev said that the party has proven that there is no problem with people from PP being investigated. According to him, the problem, however, is that the prosecutor's office and the Anti-Corruption Commission work selectively.
According to him, the party's monthly expenses currently cost about 180 thousand leva, obtained from the subsidy and donations from deputies.
„If they investigated the scandals that the ACF brought up, if they investigated „Botash“, everything that is shown and for which there is evidence, with the same speed with which they are investigating the deputy mayor in the Sofia Municipality, you would not hear a word from us. However, they are not doing so“, Vassilev explained.
He explained that on July 12, the PP national council will meet to discuss a future vote of no confidence in the „Zhelyazkov“ cabinet. Healthcare will be in focus.
„Yesterday I was at the round table for young doctors. In 2022, we made efforts to raise the salaries of doctors - 2,000 leva and nurses - 1,500 leva. Do you know why these salaries were not raised? Only 60% of hospitals raised them, the other 40% did not reach these levels. The directors of municipal state hospitals appealed to the Supreme Administrative Court. The director himself receives a monthly salary of 30-40 thousand leva, and says: “I don't have 1500 leva for the nurse“, commented Vassilev.
According to him, the regulation of decent pay for medical specialists is “dwelling in time“ by the ruling majority. He took responsibility from the PP to make efforts to have the texts voted on before the MPs' vacation.
Toshko Yordanov's behavior does not scandalize me, what scandalizes me is the behavior of Minister Silvi Kirilov. Yesterday at the round table he said: “I don't know, we need to consult, I haven't heard him“. I felt an abdication, a desire to bury his head in the sand and say: “Well, there seems to be no problem“, added Vassilev.
The politician and former finance minister answered unequivocally to the question of how the government is managing state money - “badly“.
“If we look at 2024, at the end of May, we have a surplus of 146 million leva, and in 2025 we have a deficit of 2.6 billion leva. And this is provided that the budget was made in February-March and adopted at the end of March. The most worrying thing is VAT – there was a projected growth of 6 billion leva, currently an additional 1 billion leva has been collected,“ said Vassilev.
According to him, the funds from the Recovery and Resilience Plan could “explode the budget“.