/ world today news/ Let’s get out of the role of supplicant and protect our national interest
PP-DB’s cake voodoo ritual was neither clever nor beautiful. It also does not show sharing of Christian values on Christmas Day
“Bulgaria and Romania have fulfilled the conditions for their full membership in the Schengen area. And we must make every diplomatic effort to get a clear perspective by the end of the year. I’m worried about the air-only option. Or if we agree, we must have a clear date for the remaining borders as well, because the land borders are the most important for the economy and for people.
Our membership should not be a function of domestic political decisions in individual countries. Here, in the Netherlands, the elections took place and Prime Minister Rutte, who until recently was against it, but now in a different role, overrode the veto. In Austria, however, the elections are not held until the fall, and the rulers there compete with the far-right on their turf. It is important for them to convince their citizens that they guarantee their security and fight against migration. This does not give them a reason to impose additional conditions on Bulgaria and Romania. And the Bulgarian government must clearly state that such behavior will have consequences on our bilateral relations – political and economic. Too often we are in the role of petitioner, and dozens of missions of European institutions and member states, as well as the EC and EP have clearly stated that we are ready. We have been fulfilling the Schengen conditions for over 10 years now.
Naturally, we should not allow our own behavior to create tension and obstacles in our way. I am referring to the majority decision to impose a tax on gas transmission, which led to a reaction from Hungary and a veto threat. Who needed that?”
This is how Sergey Stanishev commented on the subject of Schengen in the program “Your Day” on Nova News. Asked to analyze the political situation in our country, he said that what happened in the last week in the National Assembly does not particularly increase confidence in him. “PP-DB came to power with the thesis of the return of parliamentarism, of politics, of well-thought-out decisions. And instead, in one week, the changes to the Constitution were adopted in the second and third reading. They are entirely politically motivated and serve the interest of the triple majority. The first policy objective was to limit the powers of the president in relation to caretaker governments. But it is precisely the parties’ inability to cast a majority that gives the head of state a role in appointing the prime minister and ministers. There are certainly good decisions and intentions in the judicial system, but there is still a risk of the politicization of the two councils. Now many of the texts will be contested before the Constitutional Court, we have yet to find out which of them will pass. “
Regarding the dismantling of the Monument to the Soviet Army, Stanishev commented that “everything was done hastily, aggressively and illegally. With the aim of imposing the decisions of the majority in the parliament, but they are not supported by the majority of the Bulgarian citizens. That’s why it was forced. And we are already tired of such an approach. PP-DB fought against this model of Borisov, now they are doing it many times worse. It is important to learn from history, not to try to rewrite it. It is merciless to those who replace it. There are similar monuments in Vienna, Berlin, Bratislava, Budapest. Is this the main problem of society? New dividing lines are being set – the voters of certain political forces are being indulged, the public’s attention is being diverted, because it is easiest to fish in murky water. It was the same in the 1990s – we pushed the mausoleum three times while the privatization was going on.”
Asked to comment on the reactions to the cake with figures from the PP-DB monument, Stanishev replied that “this voodoo ritual does not say much about sharing Christian values on the eve of the Nativity of Christ. That was neither smart nor pretty.’
“The three parties in the assembly have no interest in early elections. They will use our national goals – Schengen and the Eurozone – as reasons for it to stay. However, I do not see any buffers in the budget and with a forecast of a recession in the EU and a rise in crude oil prices due to the situation in the Red Sea it may turn out that apart from the criterion for inflation, we don’t cover the one for the deficit either. It is important to be in the core of the EU, but I do not see any preparation for our joining the Eurozone.
There are partial measures for demography in the budget, but the solutions proposed by doctors for reproductive health were not adopted. With technical explanations. This will push back action to fight the demographic crisis by another year.
In 2022, the caretaker government managed to get 24% of the money under the Recovery and Sustainability Plan – BGN 2.7 billion, and not a single BGN has come in this year. These funds are not for a 7-year, I 4-year period, and the delay seriously jeopardizes their absorption,” Stanishev pointed out.
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