“Minister of Culture – policeman” and “Minekov – out” – MPs discussed the case with “Trud” – Politics

The Minister of Culture is behaving like a policeman “,” Minekov – out “,” I lived to see GERB take care of freedom of speech “- such remarks were made today in the plenary hall of the National Assembly. The case of the Trud newspaper, whose offices were sealed due to unpaid rent, was the first on the agenda of a hearing at the request of the GERB group. However, the hearing did not lead to a better clarification of the facts, but only to an exchange of sharp remarks.

Deputies from GERB and MRF, who accused Minekov of not giving specific answers, applied a police approach and behaved rudely. The Minister, for his part, answered with counter-questions about the state of the media in the GERB government and the lack of silence on the issues at the time.

From the very beginning, GERB-UDF MP Lyuben Dilov said that the Minister of Culture was in “cognitive dissonance” because he was “behaving like a policeman”. “For the first time I see a minister dreaming and behaving like a policeman. It happened in the history of the Soviet Union and the Third Reich, but it happens for the first time in the history of Bulgaria. Whatever dispute a minister of culture has with one media , it is right to decide in a cultural way, without the help of the police “, said Dilov and asked with what decision, at which judicial body the Ministry of Culture has tried to stop the publication of one of the oldest newspapers in our country.

© Julia Lazarova

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Why GERB asked Minekov to be expelled

The caretaker minister agreed that the topic of media freedom deserves an extraordinary sitting of the National Assembly, but asked why there was none when the BNR signal was stopped and listed other similar cases – “when the Interior Ministry and the CDCOC seized TV7 equipment, when Milen Tsvetkov’s show was taken down when Valeri Simeonov threatened journalists that they would kick their seats when BNT broadcast fake news about gallows and a people’s court during the protests in 2020, when children and journalists were beaten in front of the parliament during the summer protests . ” The enumeration continued with the deletion of the cartoons of Chavdar Nikolov from the Youtube channel of Nova TV, the obstacles to the distribution of the satirical edition “Pras Press”, the dismissals of journalists Anna Tsolova, Mirolyuba Benatova, Martin Karbovski, Veselin Dremdzhiev, Sasho Dikov, the threats against.

In response to his statement, GERB-UDF MP Radomir Cholakov asked Parliament Speaker Nikola Minchev to expel the minister, who was to prepare his answers on the merits. The deputy chairman of the MRF parliamentary group, Yordan Tsonev, said its members refused to ask questions because “caretaker ministers must learn to be respectful of their employer”. He described Minekov’s behavior as inadmissible. At a certain moment, the chairman of the GERB-UDF parliamentary group intensified the tension with the appeal: “Minekov, get out!”.

The minister, in turn, said he would not answer questions related to the newspaper, but only about the actual tenant of the premises in the Museum of Socialist Art – the Southern Cross 2001 Society.
“I have a clear account of what has been due since March 2012, but you are asking me again about Trud newspaper. We have no relationship with the newspaper. When you ask me the right question, then I will answer you,” Minekov replied. of the GERB MP Hristo Gadzhev, who inquired about the accumulated obligations of the media.

Minekov replied that the tenant had appealed the preliminary execution of the order of the regional governor of Sofia to vacate the premises. The court rejected this request with two orders.

Old information in a new voice

He told the deputies that “Southern Cross 2001”, which re-handed over the premises of the editorial office, owes penalties for unpaid rent in the amount of over BGN 90 thousand and unpaid consumables in the amount of over BGN 133 thousand, accumulated in October 2015 – November 2018. In addition, there are bills for consumables for September and October this year in the amount of over BGN 7,000, which have not been paid so far. The Minister reminded that these duties were demanded first by the former Minister of Culture Vezhdi Rashidov, and then by the caretaker Minister Rashko Mladenov. When the department was under the management of Boil Banov, a letter was sent from the Finance Directorate to sign a decision to return the amounts due, but Minister Banov refused to sign it.

Deputies from the parliamentary groups of BSP, “Vazrazhdane” and “Ima tak narod” described as cynicism the fact that GERB and MRF raise the issue of freedom of speech and pointed out that during GERB’s rule the country dropped to 112th place. on freedom of speech in the ranking of “Reporters Without Borders”. “I experienced the GERB party worrying about freedom of speech. I never thought such a thing would happen,” said Alexander Simov of the BSP.

Andrei Gyurov, chairman of the We Continue Change parliamentary group, said he believed the dispute was a commercial one and did not touch on the issue of freedom of speech at all. “There are unsettled obligations and in this sense for us this dispute is clear, the media is not a tenant of the property,” said Gyurov, adding that the rules should apply to everyone.

Yordan Tsonev replied that the debate has a direct bearing on freedom of speech. I can’t imagine what would have happened if this effort had been directed at one of the publications of the media monopoly Prokopiev (editor of Dnevnik and Capital Ivo Prokopiev). Do you know that the Union of Publishers Prokopiev “uses a state building of the Ministry of Economy. Do you know what the rent is there?”, asked the MRF MP. In fact, in the Union of Publishers in Bulgaria, in addition to Economedia, the publishing company of Dnevnik and Capital, there are eight other publishing groups, including the publishers of Sega, Club Z, Mediapool, Mediapool and Pod Tepeto. “and others, and the address has always been in a private business building.

© Julia Lazarova

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In the course of the hearing, the issue of renting the premises where the GERB party headquarters is located was also raised. According to Minekov, this is a building that is part of the National Palace of Culture, where the last 2 floors have been taken over by the term “no need”. He claims that this was done during the time of Rosen Plevneliev. “The debt is incredible, I don’t know how it will be paid, the National Palace of Culture was ruined, obviously GERB was so poor that it could not pay its office rent. This is a loss of BGN 6 million,” Minekov said. the parliamentary rostrum. On the sidelines of parliament, he announced that “the GERB party is no longer needed” to be housed in the National Palace of Culture, but in order to resolve the issue, a new room for the party’s offices has been found with the help of the regional governor. According to him, after the two floors are vacated, they will be used for renting cultural institutes.

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