Bulgarian PM Borissov’s GERB party hits back at President Radev over November 10 anniversary statement
Tsvetan Tsvetanov, parliamentary leader of Prime Minister Boiko Borissov’s GERB party, has hit back at President Roumen Radev after the attack he mounted on the government on the anniversary of the beginning of Bulgaria’s transition to democracy.
In a statement to the nation on the eve of November 10, the 29th anniversary of the date in 1989 on which long-time communist ruler Todor Zhivkov was forced out of power, Radev said that the foundations of Bulgarian democracy were in danger.
In an interview on November 10 on Bulgarian National Television, Tsvetanov said that Radev could not escape from the shadow of the Bulgarian Socialist Party. Radev was elected head of state on a ticket backed by the opposition BSP, defeating GERB’s candidate.
“He knows that he owes his success to the BSP,” Tsvetanov said.
Commenting on Radev’s charge that the government made decisions “in the dark,” Tsvetanov said that perhaps Radev was referring to his own appointment of a 2017 caretaker government “in the dark”.
Tsvetanov said that Radev’s statement was not normal for a president, constitutionally meant to be a unifier of the nation.
Democracy was not in jeopardy, Tsvetanov said. “We have a Parliament, an opposition, a parliamentary majority”. The government was stable and there were parameters to make Bulgaria one of the most developed countries in the EU, he said.
“Prime Minister Boiko Borissov is a valued factor for stability in Europe. That annoys President Roumen Radev,” Tsvetanov said. He repeated his frequent criticism that Radev was the president only of the BSP.
Radev was the only president who had not come to Parliament to deliver an address, Tsvetanov said.
“Our country is getting better every day, one of the best places to live in the EU, even in Europe,” Tsvetanov said.
The opposition constantly sought confrontation, there was no dialogue, and the BSP was disunited, he said.
