Comment by Emilia Milcheva:
Can Rumen Radev retire the kings of the status quo Borisov and Peevski or will his yet unchristened movement share the fate of “There is such a people” (ITN) and “burn out” after its first elections? It depends on who he partners with in the 52nd parliament – as politicians usually do, and not on who will follow him, which is important for presidents.
However, his true intentions will be evident in the proposals for judicial reform. Rumen Radev kept quiet on this topic during his nine years as president, despite the narrative against corruption and the activity of his legal team due to the record 46 vetoes he imposed. In addition, he repeatedly appealed to the Constitutional Court, and challenged the changes to the Constitution, with particular emphasis on those that limit his powers for the service cabinets. (However, these were the only ones that were preserved.)
“Undisputed priority”
After the departure of “Dondukov” 2, however, Radev is without the protection of the presidential institution and his actions will not be judged by rhetoric, but by the ability to share power, bear responsibility and negotiate compromises. On BNT, Anton Kutev, who was a spokesman in the president's service governments, stated that judicial reform would be an “undisputed priority” - to meet expectations for justice.
In order to establish order in the judicial system, 160 votes will be needed, so he will have to talk to other formations, said Kutev, who admits that it is possible for Radev to win 120 deputies in the elections. 160 votes are needed for changes to the Constitution, for the election of the political quota in the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) and for the Inspectorate to the SJC. The personnel of the judicial system have an expired mandate since 2022, and the election of a new prosecutor general also depends on them.
In 2022, at a meeting with the head of the Office for Coordination of Sanctions at the US State Department, Ambassador Jim O'Brien, the president spoke about the "need for real political will to carry out judicial reform". As a politician, he will now have a chance to prove his will.
How will we recognize him
While he was president, Radev rarely shared his views on the fight against corruption. But last year in Plovdiv he commented that “if the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) remains, its functions and composition must be fundamentally changed. This commission cannot exist in its current form… it is being used as a parallel prosecutor's office and has turned against the people who created it“. Now, when the majority in parliament is about to close the ACC, he can openly state what he thinks, since he is now acting as a political entity, not as a state arbitrator.
Due to the problem with the ACC and the failed anti-corruption measures that are included in the Recovery and Resilience Plan, the state lost 367 million euros. These funds have been withheld by the European Commission and the chances of Bulgaria receiving them are close to zero. What do Rumen Radev and his team think about the future of the anti-corruption commission, as well as about the other unresolved legislative issue - the investigation of the prosecutor general? It will not be beneficial for him to keep his concept a secret.
Radev will also have to answer questions that are unpleasant for him
As a politician, Radev can now also join the protests - for example, against the acting prosecutor general Borislav Sarafov. Or against the changes in the Electoral Code. If he wants, he can also join the “Front for the Lev” on February 1 at the National Palace of Culture - he keeps repeating how the authorities have ignored the request for a referendum on the euro.
But when entering the political arena, he must be ready to answer questions about energy and his strategy - as long as he has one. His official administrations pursued a fairly active energy policy. In 2022, for example, his official Minister of Energy Rosen Hristov publicly announced that the “official cabinet will begin negotiations to resume gas supplies under the contract with ”Gazprom”. And this after the Russian company unilaterally suspended supplies a few months earlier!
However, Hristov listed the contract with the Turkish company “Botaş” as an “asset” of his administration, under which “Bulgargaz” pays half a million dollars a day for capacity that it rarely uses. “A person whose decision costs us 500 thousand dollars a day cannot fight corruption”, commented on the “Sega” podcast; journalist and analyst Petko Georgiev regarding Rumen Radev’s request.
The contract with “Botaş” circumvents restrictions on Russian natural gas in Europe, as a Turkish mix is sold. European directives for a complete ban on Russian pipeline gas come into effect from September 2027.
“Great is our soldier…”
In 2009; when he first won the elections, Boyko Borisov came with a fist against corruption and then turned his back on it, taking the status quo by the hand. At that time, the major general, like Radev, had not shared how he intended to fight corruption, which he promised to crack down hard, but had not presented any detailed legislative proposals or specific mechanisms that would affect the Supreme Judicial Council.
Three days after the elections, however, the two of them, along with his right-hand man and future Minister of the Interior Tsvetan Tsvetanov, met with Prosecutor General Boris Velchev and announced that they were giving “one hundred percent credit of trust from the GERB party to the prosecution”. The punishments for those responsible for the suspension of EU funds have somehow faded, and the photos show the three laughing their heads off.
Radev - an alternative to the status quo or just a new facade
Then Borisov and Velchev were asked whether the leader of the MRF, Ahmed Dogan, and his circle of companies would be investigated and gave the blanket answer that anyone who broke the law would be held accountable. Subsequent events not only showed that there would be no investigations, but also led to a partnership between the MRF phenomenon Peevski and Borisov.
In Bulgarian politics, the easiest thing is to declare yourself against corruption. The difficult thing is for the corrupt to bear the consequences. This is how we will judge whether Rumen Radev is a real alternative to the status quo or just a regrouping with a new facade.