2024-03-23 05:04:23
The PP-DB pushed for a second term
I believe that we should do everything possible so that Bulgaria does not end up in a situation of new elections. We were in this situation 9 months ago and then, in the name of the national interest, we declared that we wanted to give the country stability. This was said by the GERB candidate for Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister in resignation Maria Gabriel in the studio of “Panorama” on BNT.
According to her, it is now important to do everything possible so that Bulgaria does not go to elections.
She added that she made her move when she returned the mandate to the president. “With this move, I gave the negotiations a chance to continue until the last moment. According to the constitution, the composition of the government takes place after a vote in the National Assembly,” she also said.
Maria Gabriel recalled that Nikolay Denkov resigned from the government without her knowledge. “The rotation was supposed to be a technical matter. There were many days of negotiations that left the feeling of a waste of time,” she added. And she added that that’s why she went with Nikolay Denkov and Kiril Petkov to Radev to ask for more time. “On Tuesday, giving a list of names in which there is not a single unspoken name, I also wanted to take my responsibility and say: “We have no right not to respond to those 40% of Bulgarians who do not want elections. I had no right to push the country towards new elections before exhausting any possibility of negotiation,” Maria Gabriel added.
She added that already on March 15 they had the final text of an agreement and the composition of the government. After that day, that feeling of wasting time or pushing for the second term was created, she clarified. According to her, only the date for the reform of the services and the issue of judicial reform related to investigative secrecy had not been finalized until then. And with regard to the composition of the government, 2 names remained to be discussed for the composition of the Council of Ministers – the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Energy. The idea of having a rotation at the Minister of Defense even came back.
“I have nothing against Minister Tagarev. But it became clear that we need to make an action plan together to accelerate the process of modernization of the Bulgarian army,” she added. In terms of support for Ukraine, there should be no sense of delayed deadlines. Maria Gabriel also stated that she made a proposal to keep the current composition of the government, to give ourselves a few more days to finalize the proposal. And he specified that there was no moment in which GERB-SDS interrupted the negotiations.
“Nine months ago, the party that won the elections gave up its mandate in the name of the national interest. I will not recall the context of some leaked records, where I again showed my responsibility. The declaration we came out with was within one or two pages. We currently have an agreement, which is 14 pages long, in which we say that we want to be responsible for joint management,” explained the GERB candidate for prime minister.
“I appreciate the high level of trust I have from Boyko Borisov, and this trust makes me feel responsible for the decisions I make. These decisions are also my decisions. Not only Maria Gabriel participates in the government, behind her is a parliamentary group with 69 deputies “It is quite normal, when you see that in the last 9 months, key reforms have taken place with the support of GERB, to want to be recognized,” she added.
According to her, partners must learn to accept successes as common, as well as failures. “And not one automatically by presumption to have credit for the successes, and the other to be blamed for the failures,” Gabriel also urged.
“I don’t want a personal apology. I want an apology for two things. To all those women, and not only women, but also mothers, professionals who responsibly occupy high positions, an apology that in one government, in one team, the respect between men and women is the principle from which I will not deviate.
Do not expect me, as before, to go into the details of the negotiations before the process has ended or before all possibilities have been exhausted,” she said in response to a question about the meeting between Boyko Borisov and Asen Vasilev.
When asked if the PP accepts her as prime minister, whether she will accept Asen Vasilev as finance minister, she stated that this is part of the negotiations: “When you realize that the attitude is not only towards one person, but towards the people who are behind him – the party and the electorate, it’s good to measure our words and not find ourselves in a situation where it is very difficult to go back. In some negotiations, you don’t start with an ultimatum, but let’s give ourselves a chance to listen to each other”.
“I don’t have such a commitment,” she said when asked if there were any with the DPS and Delyan Peevski. “There is a very clear part in the agreement related to the regulators, and that 25 positions are elected by a 2/3 majority. A text was agreed which met our agreement. But this text was presented as pre-approved by Kiril Petkov and Delyan Peevski” , Gabriel explained.
“So at this point we want to send a message that we cannot exclude candidates because of their party affiliation. I think it is very important here to treat everyone who is in the National Assembly with respect because behind them are people who vote for them,” Gabriel added. And he explained that talks about a government are underway.
When asked what illusions she parted with, she stated: “I want to stay with the illusion, for me it is not an illusion, that in Bulgaria and with the Bulgarian citizens, you can be very correct and loyal. To be able to overcome the personal in the name of the national interest. The illusion I’ve lost is that problems that have been building up for years can be solved at a pace that I love. It’s much faster than what might actually happen to me,” she added.
“It was important for me that in the last 9 months I could show that I can work for the national interests of Bulgaria. Not for myself, not for the party I represent. It will be important for me to continue working for Bulgaria, the Bulgarian citizens – open, correct and loyal. This is not always required to be prime minister,” added Maria Gabriel.
And he stated that he had no information about wounded Bulgarian citizens in the terrorist attack in Moscow.
We are monitoring the situation minute by minute. I must say that we received information as soon as it happened, Maria Gabriel added.
Of course, Bulgaria has always condemned terrorist acts and we cannot be in this situation without a clear position, the resigned foreign minister also said as a comment on the call of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the world to condemn the terrorist act near Moscow.