site.btaVice President Iotova Fears that Ad Hoc Committee of Enquire about New Fighter Aircraft Will Be Politicized

Sofia, July 2 (BTA) - "My concerns are that this committee will be used for purely political purposes and does not aim to establish the truth," Bulgarian Vice President Iliana Iotova said here on Sunday, commenting on the June 28 formation of an ad hoc parliamentary committee to investigate the procedure for selecting a new type of fighter aircraft for the Bulgarian Air Force.

Unveiling the motion, GERB Floor Leader Tsvetan Tsvetanov said: "We have enough reasons to suspect that President Radev backed the purchase of Swedish fighter aircraft, and that this happened at a time when the caretaker cabinet had not yet made a final decision. We want to check, using parliamentary mechanisms, the conversations which were held with all participants in this process about how this decision was reached and whether they received information which disqualified one of the bidders by default." President Rumen Radev reacted: "We have lived to see GERB's Tsvetanov accuse the State of Sweden of corruption, because you know that it takes two to commit corruption."

"I do hope that the committee of enquiry will really do its job accurately and quickly, without needless insinuations," Iotova said on Sunday. "We all want the whole truth to come out, the way it is."

The Vice President also discussed the formation of another parliamentary committee of enquiry, proposed by Socialist leader Kornelia Ninova, to establish the truth about Sofia's National Palace of Culture (NDK) Congress Centre. The demand for the committee came after the Minister for the Bulgarian Presidency of the EU Council in 2018 Liliyana Pavlova dismissed Miroslav Borshosh as NDK Executive Director on June 26 over alleged systematic non-compliance with instructions from the NDK owner and unsound financial management of the Congress Centre that jeopardize the ongoing refurbishment of the NDK building to meet the requirements of the EU Presidency. Borshosh countered that he refused to sign any public procurements connected with the preparation of NDK for the EU Presidency under pressure and in conditions which were at odds with the rules and the law. He was reinstated but later resigned.

According to Iotova, this committee should work at an even faster pace because it has a direct bearing on the Bulgarian EU Presidency. She pointed out that the public discussion on the content of the Bulgarian Presidency has not yet started: about what this country will present during the first half of 2018. "Apart from the common agenda, Bulgaria must come up with its own highlights," the Vice President said, listing topics like Dublin, Brexit, and the new EU budget for after 2020. "All this is subject to discussion in the Bulgarian public as well," she said, adding that she does not such any such discussion taking place.

"I earnestly wish both committees to complete their work competently as soon as possible, so that doubts would be dispelled and we could proceed in the clear from now on, because our country's international image is not good," Iotova said.