President Rumen Radev: I expect more sense, not abdication to another election

"We are already champions of all kinds of crises, but I expect more sense. It is clear what situation the country is in and all politicians are aware of that and what the situation is around us so that we have a workable solution. And not an abdication to another election because the parties seem to forget their main task, which is to elect a majority after the elections and to have a government, President Rumen Radev said on November 19 in connection to the crisis with the election of the Speaker of the Parliament and the blocked start of work of the Parliament.

As regards the proposal to elect the oldest MP - Silvi Kirilov of There Is Such a People as Parliament Speaker, the President said: I do not want to comment on this issue before the parties hold all the necessary talks among themselves and come up with their opinion,

President Rumen Radev sharply criticised the caretaker cabinet over the selective allocation of money to specific municipalities and the provision of a building for Delyan Peevski's party headquarters.

Images by BTA

"Things are very connected. I have been saying for a long time that the laying low and acquiescence to the corruption of entire institutions and their transformation into bludgeons, to the blatant corruption, to the takeover and destruction of entire businesses, to the umbrella over the main characters in the robbery of Corporate Commercial Bank, to the degradation of Bulgarian politics leads to the destruction of the immunity of statehood. What kind of rule of law can we even talk about while oligarchs sanctioned under Magnitsky are swallowing the state in big bites. And just the case of the other day, a person points to a building in the centre of Sofia and instantly on the hour gets it from the Council of Ministers, throwing state officials out on the street. Do we still need to ask who makes decisions in the government and how," Rumen Radev said.

The President sharply criticised the draft budget and the upcoming cuts in funds for the army.

"You know that for a long time I have been calling not for urgent but for emergency measures for the Bulgarian army, because it remains without people. Particularly worrying is the issue of future officers. There are very few candidates to fill the ranks, not to mention the soldiers. I expect both the National Assembly and the government to fulfill their promise to increase the salaries from January 1, because we cannot afford, with all the uncertainty around us, to continue this outflow from the army," Rumen Radev added.

In his words, Bulgaria must have a strong army, a capable army, on which it can rely.

Referring to the US authorization for Ukraine to attack Russia with long-range missiles, President Rumen Radev called for seeking a peaceful solution.

"Any escalation in the Russia-Ukraine conflict is a dangerous play with fire. Trump's return to the White House gives hope for ending the war. Bulgaria has a vested interest in peace. We are immediate neighbours of this conflict. Europe needs security. This has been my position since the beginning of this war and it is time for the political poker, the betting and paying with the lives of thousands of people every day, to end," the head of state added.

President Rumen Radev assured that Bulgaria will not be separated from Romania for a land-based Schengen.

"I had in-depth talks with many European leaders and with Austria, the Netherlands and the European Commission. All governments have done their job well on this topic and we expect a positive outcome. But my appeal, and that of a number of leaders I spoke to in Budapest, is not to rush, not to speculate on this issue. We are waiting for the positive news from December 12," the Bulgarian Head of State further said.