Stefan Sofianski, former acting Prime Minister and mayor of Sofia for 10 years, in interview for the Audiocast of "Focus“ "This is Bulgaria“
The rotation didn't happen Mr. Sofianski, what messed up the power solitaire we were all convinced would happen?
The very comical title they came up with – assembly – speaks of the impermanence of this union which governed us. Now we have not forgotten the qualifications, the insults, which in a Makhlen style were called both parts of the assembly. And so when the rotation came, for me the role of GERD was essential. GERB managed, I'm looking for a more polite expression, managed to slip the PP-DB for these clumsy changes to the Constitution and the moment they saw that they were completely in their favor, especially with the service cabinet, which you see as completely dominated from GERB. And when they saw that they would make the elections, GERB naturally preferred elections to rotation. Because there is a memory from the management of GERB, and it is that half of Bulgaria was on the streets. It seems that this fear still exists and they are looking to extend the period in which they were in power, to hold some elections and enter with new forces as winners in the next term.
A working parliament and a party-balanced cabinet - we are facing an unprecedented situation. What does it evoke in you?
Unfortunately, for some bad prospects for the development of the country. Undoubtedly, there are external factors, and to these external factors, apart from the war in Ukraine, apart from a general stagnation of the economy, especially in Germany, which is a good partner of ours in principle, also lead to everyday problems. But we are a small country and with skillful management we could get out of this situation well. Even if we take advantage of it for greater economic growth. Unfortunately, the rulers do not have the capacity to make this thing happen. We had a government that was divided, obviously the internal division between the individual parties and the individual ministers that made up the government.
Weak opposition, the parliamentary opposition is really weak, the extra-parliamentary opposition is divided. And in this situation, this cabinet existed until the moment when GERB decided that it was more profitable for him to go to the elections, because he had a certain advance. And because GERB will conduct the elections, this advance can reach an almost complete majority. Not to mention that it can definitely push out the DPS as the second political force. And from here on, we can only look for Bulgaria's prospects, knowing the capacity of GERB and how far they have brought us after 12 years of management. Do not forget that we have been in the EU since 2007. 17 years were not enough for them to prove to Europe that we are equal and that we can enter Schengen, let alone the euro.
However, Borissov has repeatedly said that “He will not make a coalition only with DPS, it is not in his interest", it is not in the interest of GERB. Apparently, a third coalition partner will be needed.
I will just remind you that Borisov said the same thing about “The Change", that he will never work with them. The fact is that he even gave them one mandate.
The new constitutional changes created a situation that made governance difficult from the start, and the first stumbling block after the election of the prime minister turned out to be the personality of the foreign minister. Is this the most important figure in a government, be it ex officio? You were the acting Prime Minister.
Authority is important. Especially in our time, the authority of Bulgaria was important and to show that the processes are irreversible, that is why we made the decision for NATO to show that there is no return to communism in Bulgaria and there is no return to the old system. It was extremely important then, and Stoyan Stalev, who was previously ambassador to Germany, then to Turkey, was a well-known political figure. I personally asked him to take this post, it was very important to have such an authoritative foreign minister. It is also extremely important now, but the root of the problem lies elsewhere. Regarding agriculture, I cannot comment on why this conflict arose, because it is not clear to me. But in the interior ministry conflict and in the foreign ministry conflict, obviously the reason for them is the same and the basis is the same.
And what is she like? The Ministry of the Interior conducts the elections in Bulgaria, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs conducts the elections abroad, sections depend on it, it appoints the consuls who are directly responsible for conducting the elections, and from here on, the effort to master these two state levers is very important. And from here on we explain to each other the reason why the ulcer, discords and conflicts are in these two ministries. At the moment, for those who hope to run the GERB with the DPS, this is the most important thing: to control these two ministries so that they can have a direct influence on the conduct of the elections.
Dimitar Glavchev has clearly estimated that he will be able to cope with the double commitments of Prime Minister and Foreign Minister. The question is: what challenges will he face?
He doesn't need to deal with a foreign ministry at all, it's just that his position now, right now allows him to appoint these deputy ministers who will do this job. I think they care little about Bulgaria's position, that is, the lack of Bulgaria's position on important European issues. In general, Bulgaria has not had an independent foreign policy for a very long time. And this is not due to the fact that we are a member of the EU, but rather due to the impersonality and lack of a clear strategy of the governments. How old they are now, I can't say. So I don't think that Glavchev faces the problem of how he will represent Bulgaria to the outside world. Bulgaria is nailed to the last place in Europe and will not budge from there for three months. So I don't see any challenge for him, he will simply appoint the right people and they will formally represent Bulgaria at international forums, and he will focus his efforts on holding the elections outside of Bulgaria.
What will the caretaker government itself face, apart from elections of course?
The caretaker government itself, if it takes the positions it holds seriously, has one problem. This problem must be solved in the interest of all Bulgarians as soon as possible. This is the Recovery and Resilience Plan. We need to speed up the absorption of European funds so that we can transfer them properly. And here, too, is the responsibility to properly and effectively convert it into gross domestic product. We are extremely late. We are lagging behind, you know how late our Recovery and Resilience Plan was adopted, we are late on the uptake. A clear strategy is missing, maybe in someone's head there is one, but it is missing to the extent that society needs to adopt it in order to help absorb these funds.
Or, if I were to deal with this thing, what would I do? I would come out as Prime Minister, I would explain the 5-way Recovery and Resilience Plan. We have funds in this direction - in “Agriculture" how much are you, we have in “Economy" how much are you, manufacturing industry how much are you We have to absorb them in some time frame, we have to absorb them as quickly as possible. For this purpose, the government will open programs and facilitate the application for European funds in such and such a way. Then I would send each of the ministers who is responsible for the Recovery and Resilience Plan and its purpose, I would send him every day on some popular program on National Television to explain and the mechanisms by which the money is absorbed and to direct people where to looking for investment. I would facilitate, through the Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the financing of projects under the Plan for Reconstruction and Sustainability, so that in some way we can have an additional injection for the Bulgarian economy and take it out of this lethargy, which has taken hold in the last, I would say, unfortunately 15 or so years. We need economic growth, which GERB could not provide in its long years of governance. Not to mention that he allowed a very big drop at the beginning of the mandate.
How can the return to the normal political and administrative life of the state be made, Mr. Sofianski?
In a single way, with mobilization, with exceptional mobilization of the extra-parliamentary opposition. However, it is not noticeable, unfortunately. We "Free Democrats” we tried to do something, we were not successful enough, we can look for the fault within us, maybe someone outside us hinders us, but we could not unite the extra-parliamentary opposition. Now the people who are looking for the alternative are somehow touching some of the political forces that are in the parliament, and so I think it will be much more difficult to mobilize people. Fresh blood must enter the parliament, new thinking people must enter. Those who were until now, and who failed several mandates, not one, the character, the parties are the same and fail mandate after mandate, I have already stopped counting how many there are. Obviously, they have exhausted their capacity in public life. So we need fresh blood from outside, but it must be a real opposition, not seeking to enter the parliament, unfortunately this word has entered my vocabulary, and making assemblies. To look for a completely different management strategy that goes, I emphasize again, through much better management of public finances, economically of course and only then the Eurozone.
Would you commit to a forecast? How do you see the results after these elections?
I see, as we mentioned from the conversation a little while ago, a majority of DPS and GERB, it is quite possible that DPS will be a second political force and the question is whether they will diversify their flirtation with a third crutch. This is what I see, I hope I'm wrong, I hope my prediction is wrong.
You had a draft for a new Constitution with radical changes at stake. What happened to him?
And this turned out to be a stumbling block: everywhere we proposed unification around a new organization. Let the Constitution not be a sacred word. What is the Constitution? The constitution is an organization of society. We need a new organization of society. You see that these changes led not to the elimination, but to the deepening of conflicts between institutions. In the old Constitution, there are inherent contradictions that have manifested themselves over time. Controversy between the president and the prime minister, contradictions between the regional governor and the mayor. The regional governor is appointed by the government and can override the decisions of the directly elected mayor, which is absolutely illogical.
In the same way, the president does not have the right of legislative initiative, but has the right of veto, which is an inherent contradiction. And we think that society, we as I say, "Free Democrats" so we think that the society should look for a new organization that will support, as we saw from the referendums that Slavi Trifonov did, look for a new constitutionally determined electoral system. The distribution of public finances, a chapter that is missing in the current Constitution, must be constitutionally determined - what remains for the municipalities, what goes to the state, what goes to the regional level in the district. We need a new territorial division, in general, we need a new organization of our society. That is why I say that the Constitution is not a sacred legal document, but rather the organization of a society and the relations between institutions.
And the philosophy of the new Constitution that we think we have proposed, of course we are not perfect, it is a matter of wide public debate, it should place the institutions in our country in conditions of interaction, not in conditions of opposition. We were looking for that to unite around this idea, it is not necessary, so if we think, if we explain well enough, if we get people involved, it does not have to be done at the first moment, it can start to be implemented, then gradually next The National Assembly should draw up a draft in its mandate, God willing, it should be regular, draw up a draft and the next National Assembly should be a Grand National Assembly, which will adopt the new Constitution and the new organization of society, which will already be started also implements that the Supreme Court is then transformed into an ordinary one with the same budget and thus fulfills its mandate.
This would not conflict with any other political interests. But we could not find supporters to unite around this idea, we were left alone, we judged that the forces, I'm talking about the "Free Democrats" again, that the forces are not enough and we will try now, after these elections, to make a wider a propaganda campaign for the new organization of society. And let's see if we can mobilize people for the next elections. That is, the emanation of political life is not in the parliament, although a great deal depends on it, but you can be a politician outside the parliament as long as you work for your country.