Ivan Hristanov to FACTI: We are governed by the cabinet of the "cashiers

Protests, arrests, discontent on the streets of major cities. Where is Bulgaria heading… Ivan Hristanov, leader of the PP “Unity“, speaks to FACTI.

- Mr. Hristanov, corruption of 6% or 20% is more dangerous. We heard this from a recording of a conversation with the deputy mayor of Sofia, Nikola Barbutov, that the PP is not like GERB, they do not want 20%...
- There is no safe corruption. Whether it is 6%, 3%, 20% or the dominant 50% from the time of the NMSV and the cabinet of Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, it is equally bad. We must realize that corruption likes to grow. It does not matter if you start with 1% or 2%, and in the end you reach 50%, as it was with GERB.

- How long does it take for a party to become corrupt?
- It is a question of the party's DNA to be able to last an extremely long time without corruption. And here is the role of the leader. Otherwise, I will give as an example the creator of Singapore, who turned an island - half jungle, and the other half made by China into a landfill, because they dumped their waste there with barges, into the most developed and most beautiful place in all of Asia. To this day, the concept of zero corruption is preached there. On the other hand, when the legal foundations and compromises of the leaders are not so sustainable, the party can become corrupt in a month, it can happen in a year, it can even happen in five years. The most important thing is the DNA of a party, which is set by the leaders. They simply have to be fanatically hateful of corruption.

- Has the circle of the “home book“ been closed with the election of an ombudsman in the person of Velislava Delcheva from GERB?
- Even when the “assembly“ made this phenomenal nonsense with the “home book“, it was clear that these 10 people who could become the acting prime minister would belong to Borisov and Peevski. The only thing that is changing at the moment and happening over time is the dynamics of who is more dominant - Borisov or Peevski. At first glance, it seems that Borisov is winning in terms of position on the chessboard, but we should not forget that very often the people who were recommended, who were promoted by Borisov, are Peevski's people.

A typical example is Rosen Zhelyazkov at the moment, because he is much more inclined to listen to Peevski's orders than to those of Borisov.

Such was Vladi Goranov and a number of other people who carried Borisov's mandate, but were subordinate to Peevski. By the way, in the “assembly“ Kalin Stoyanov was made Minister of Internal Affairs at Borisov's insistence. This is the inside information I have, but we all knew that he was Peevski's man. This was confirmed because he is currently an MP from the MRF – New Chief.

- The BSP nominated Maya Manolova for Ombudsman, and supported the person from GERB. What's next for the socialists…
- Death! I don't mean it in the direct sense, but in the political sense. Anyone who touches the government with the MRF or GERB is gone. We saw it with the PP-DB, because they practically lost half of their electorate. So I know that this will happen with both the ITN and the BSP. Dogan's MRF tried to play with Borisov, they tried, but they got out in time. However, the tsunami that is dragging them down is more than obvious for them. BSP will not enter parliament in the next elections, as well as ITN. Dogan's MRF is also in question. There is a chance for BSP and ITN if Delyan Peevski does not issue an order to buy votes that will flow to BSP and ITN, so that he will have convenient satellites to serve him in parliament.

- GERB, BSP and ITN govern through the cabinet “Zhelyazkov“, and what is MRF-NN doing?
- In fact, GERB, BSP and ITN do not govern. What we currently have is just an unprincipled assembly, a loose cabinet, in which out of 18 ministers, 16 are trying to stolen as much as possible in the little time they know they have. That's why we - from "Unity", called this cabinet, that we are governed by the cabinet of the "cashiers", which was raised by the coalition of the "bullions". Borisov's bullions, of course. In reality, all these ministers report to Peevski in the same way that we saw that rather ugly exchange of messages between Andrey Tsekov and Delyan Peevski of the type: "I'm here!", "I'm available..." You remember those messages. They were confusing because they showed that a minister who has absolutely no right to be subordinate to any MP, because there is a separation of powers, no matter how much we don't respect this in parliament, directly said that he was placing himself at the disposal of a party that supported the "assembly". But let's recalls that this party was not important for the “assembly“. “Assembly“ could have existed completely without the MRF.

- There is a big wave of discontent in Bulgaria again. People are taking to the streets because of the arrest of the mayor of Varna. Borislav Sarafov remains in the post of chief prosecutor, although the law says otherwise. Where will this civic energy lead? Are we just going to make him protest…
- Many questions in one. Look, people did not take to the streets because of Kotsev. “Unity“ - as a party, supports all protests. We also supported the one of the PP a few days ago in front of the KONPI. Then Kiril Petkov, during his speech from the improvised rostrum, announced that he thanked all his coalition partners, and also thanked Hristanov. We - from “Unity“, had a huge group at this protest. But we did not go to support Kotsev, but because we profess principled positions. It doesn't matter if they arrest Alex in front of the Russian Cultural Institute, if they arrest Lyubo in front of the Anti-Corruption Commission, if they arrest Zhoro on the yellow paving stones. Every time there is state arbitrariness against Bulgarian citizens, we are there for protection and because we uphold the rule of law. So a huge part of the people at the protest in defense of Varna Mayor Kotse don't know him. For the majority of people, he is a completely unknown person. People are simply demanding justice.

- How long will the protests continue?
- They won't stop with the release of Kotsev, they won't stop with the release of Lyubo, who was arrested in front of the KONPI - this happened before my eyes, because I was in the melee.

The protests will end when we throw out Borisov and Peevski.

When we put them in a position where they are not important for Bulgaria. When we resume the rule of law, justice and Bulgaria's sustainable path to wealth. Especially today's Bulgaria, which, metaphorically speaking, is bending its back under the yoke of inflation, we are impoverishing at a terrible pace, all prices are growing brutally and this is entirely because of the "Zhelyazkov" cabinet and the "bullion" coalition. Thus, Bulgaria remains the poorest country in Europe. I have made economic forecasts, because I am an economist and that is my job, which show that if Bulgaria were developing along the path of Romania, we would currently have twice the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) - currently ours is 105 billion euros, and we would have 210 billion euros. If Bulgaria were developing along the path of Poland, we would have had over 350 billion euros in gross GDP. Just imagine the same in Bulgaria, but three times richer.