/ world today news/ Interview with the leader of the BSP Mikhail Mikov
– Mr. Mikov, why exactly were Christian Vigenin and Anton Kutev removed from the Party’s Executive Bureau?
– There is no drama in the changes. I believe that in the future Christian Vigenin and Anton Kutev will continue to work with their experience and knowledge for the results of BSP. The IB is the operational management and thus we will give an even greater opportunity to distribute the functions.
– Where is your reform going – is the BSP more united, or did you manage to cause more conflicts with your actions?
– Reform is a word that the rulers have emptied of content. Let’s say the changes in the party are going according to plan. This plan does not include revolutionary changes, but an ideological adjustment to the left of the party profile and saying goodbye to the clientele in our ranks. Part of the modernization of the party is the imposition of electronic membership cards. Already 45 thousand socialists have them. We are creating a unified register of the main party organizations. The importance of collective decisions has increased – for the last 7-8 months, we have had about 10 meetings of the National Council, and all on issues important to society. The implementation of the new rules in the statute begins, which will make the BSP better organized and stronger, with clear responsibilities and functions.
– Is this strengthening of the BSP through the expulsion of people like Christian Vigenin and the isolation of others like Dragomir Stoynev, Maya Manolova, Angel Naydenov, Kiril Dobrev successful?
– On the contrary, they are all needed by the BSP. The names you listed are leaders of our lists at my personal suggestion. Interpret it as an assessment of their qualities and expertise. What would be the point of discarding and isolating them if we could use their potential. But even the most valuable cadres in party work must above all be able to include their own capabilities in the general efforts of the party. And this means to follow and work for the policy and decisions made by the authorities. For now, we see more of their effort to appear rebellious and interesting to the media. The feeling of isolation that you speak of arises, in my opinion, from the desire of some of our members to be particularly attractive, even if that means not following the decisions of the bodies, even of those of which they are members. This situation is not quite natural.
– Was this a demonstrative action for the dissidents in the BSP with Georgi Kadiev – he narrowly missed being expelled?
– I don’t know who defines it that way, it was a democratic procedure. There was a motion, it was voted on, and this is the result. I accept any result when it is honestly achieved.
– However, it is said that this result in favor of Kadiev is a kind of embarrassment for you?
– No, this is an example of the principle I’m talking about. A secret ballot of the parliamentary group, the National Council or the Executive Bureau, a decision has been made – good or bad, everyone must comply with it. I do it and I will be glad that Mr. Kadiev has learned his lesson and will do the same in the future. I can’t feel embarrassed when the rules are followed. For me, this is not a defeat, but a victory.
– Is it normal for the BSP to keep busy with itself, and local elections are coming up?
– This is an incorrect suggestion. BSP has very strong positions both in parliament and in society. We strongly but reasonedly criticize changes in health care that doom people with lower incomes to be unable to receive treatment. We are against the changes in education that will take away from the already insufficient funds of the state and municipal schools in favor of the private ones. Our opposition was most clearly manifested in our position on the debt, which we attack in the SC. We are the first political power to raise the issue of the secret deployment of American military equipment in Bulgaria in connection with the events in Ukraine.
These are all clear positions, the question is whether they reach the society and our voters. So far we are not doing as well as we would like. But people are much less interested in who is in what position in the BSP and much more interested in how the party protects their interests. A party that does not “take care of itself”, as you put it, will be doomed to organizational chaos and the inability to broadcast the strong messages I am talking about. It’s about time people stopped making every issue we deal with in the BSP a problem. These are normal things for any real party. If you do not observe them elsewhere, the problem is probably that these organizations do not function as parties – with ideology, history, pluralism of opinion.
– With what attitude does the BSP go to the elections in the fall, will the scandals in the party affect your performance?
– We are leaving with the self-confidence of a party that has clearly defined standards in local self-government, which our mayors and municipal councilors will apply in their activities. We are talking about free kindergartens, about more activities that the municipalities will carry out directly, about improving the infrastructure in small settlements, etc. There must have been a bit more lively discussions in some places during the nomination process, there must have been a scandal somewhere. And it’s good to stop with them. Every party member and activist should realize their interest through the interest of the party’s results. Because the big problem we need to solve in a longer-term perspective is the cooperation of the parties to achieve results, not the actions of individual people to achieve better personal results. Based on the leftist standards, we adopted a platform for the local elections from the party congress. It will be valuable both for the candidates and for the citizens who will see their interests in the implementation of local politics.
– What is your relationship with ABV and Georgi Parvanov? Will there be this leadership meeting?
– It was technically a matter of matching the programs, both of us have been traveling a lot lately. Such a meeting is not impossible, but one should not expect much from it. A conversation between politicians is normal, I talk to politicians from all parties. In the last month, meetings were held in many municipalities between our local leaderships and the ABV representatives there. In some places, these talks will certainly continue, and our meeting with Mr. Parvanov will not affect them in any way.
– In an interview with “24 Chasa”, Parvanov said that the left-wing unity is being postponed, is that right?
– The left unity is in “BSP Left Bulgaria”. To have a sense of exclusivity in this process is too much. Neither should we have it, nor ABV. If ABV sees itself as part of the process of such cooperation, it must answer the question of why it participates in this right-wing, neoliberal government.
– Tell the truth about the bribe that made the question Who? Who offered you money to quit?
– I gave an answer to this question, and artificially introducing and maintaining it in the public space is part of the attempt to shift the big questions that the BSP poses from the internal party intrigue.
– But until now you have not said anything concrete about this case – neither who offered it to you, nor how much did he offer you?
– I have nothing more to say.
– Why is this story being taken out at this time?
– There were different interpretations, in each of them there is a dose of truth.
– One was that Dragomir Stoynev was settling his accounts…
– I will not enter into personal intrigues.
– With the re-election of Stanishev as the leader of the PES, are you calmer that he will have no pretensions to return to the head of the BSP?
– I would be calmer if I was worried. We categorically supported Stanishev for a second term at the head of the PES, and any attempts to inject an element of intrigue into this are useless.
Interview: in “24 Hours”
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