/ world today news/ The chairman of KPCONPI Sotir Tsatsarov was going to leave sooner or later, that is not the most important thing. The problem is that as Attorney General from 2012 to 2019, he became a symbol of the imposition of arbitrariness by the powerful of the day. Sotir Tsatsarov must say by what mechanism this happened – whether he was subjected to pressure, how this dependence functioned. This was stated by Elena Yoncheva, MEP from the group of socialists and democrats, in an interview with Zheni Marcheva in the program “This Saturday” on bTV.
It is not about revanchism, but about taking measures so that this mechanism no longer exists, said Elena Yoncheva. Asked about the pre-trial proceedings initiated against her by Sotir Tsatsarov in 2019, she recalled the recent position of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg. The ECtHR has made her case a priority – one that could have a significant impact because there are reasonable suspicions that it is a case of political persecution. It is extremely important because it will show how the rulers in Bulgaria pressured their political opponent, a journalist who exposed corrupt practices.
The figure of the chief prosecutor should not be dependent on any party, on any economic grouping, commented Elena Yoncheva. According to her, apart from the personality of the accuser, the bigger problem is to carry out the reform of the prosecutor’s office. During the mission to Bulgaria of the monitoring group for democracy of the European Parliament in 2021, in a meeting with Ivan Geshev, we requested additional information about the cases against corruption at the highest levels of power – how far have the investigations into the audio recordings of Boyko Borisov, the photographs with gold bars and euro notes because we wanted to understand how power has functioned in the last ten years with the sole rule of the prime minister, she said.
Bulgaria was brought to the bottom of all rankings. There is a health care crisis in the country, not only because of COVID-19, among society – a huge stratification, inflation is growing. Therefore, the current government faces high expectations. Mr. Kiril Petkov’s mission is extremely complex, commented Elena Yoncheva. Complicated because difficult and unpopular steps are ahead, concrete results are needed, she said.
Elena Yoncheva was adamant that the cabinet should have been supported. As for the BSP’s participation in it – let’s see if the so-called red lines that the Bulgarian left set for itself. Will the healthcare reform happen – hospitals will not be commercial companies. Will progressive income taxation be introduced? What will be the development of nuclear energy, how far has the Belene NPP project reached – with it, energy prices would be more bearable for businesses and households, she listed some of the tasks.
In response to a question about the intention of the resigned chairman of the BSP to run for office again, Elena Yoncheva said that it would be a pity for the left and for Bulgaria if the chairman remained the same. In the last four years, 700,000 people defected from the BSP and did not vote for it, even though the party was in opposition, she recalled. Look at what is happening with the newspaper “Duma” in recent days – because of criticism of the party leadership, three journalists – Veliana Hristova, Georgi Georgiev, Velislava Dureva – bright feathers and symbols of the left press have been suspended, the MEP pointed out. Already in December 30 people from the editorial office of the newspaper wrote a letter to the National Council of the Party, in which they reported pressure and censorship.
Elena Yoncheva said that her personal sympathies are for the BSP chairman candidate Krum Zarkov, who has the strength, will and capacity to lead the party to better positions.
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