site.btaBSP Leader Ninova Reacts to GERB's Demand for Establishment of Ad Hoc Committee to Look into Armed Forces' Rearmament

BSP Leader Ninova Reacts to GERB's Demand for Establishment of Ad Hoc Committee to Look into Armed Forces' Rearmament

Sofia, June 26 (BTA) - Establishing an ad hoc committee in Parliament in connection with the decision to provide financial resources for the Army's rearmament is like the Borissov 3 Cabinet investigating the Borissov 2 cabinet, said here at a Monday news conference Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) leader Kornelia Ninova, commenting GERB's proposal to establish such a committee.

Ninova explained that the committee which arranged the offers for purchasing new armaments was appointed by Borissov's second cabinet and his defence minister Nikolay Nenchev. According to her, the same committee made this decision during the caretaker cabinet's term. The caretaker cabinet did not make the final decision, but merely reviewed the arrangement of offers and passed it on to the next government to decide.

On June 23, Borissov told Sweden's Prime Minister that negotiations are starting with the Gripen company, Ninova recalled. On Sunday, however, GERB declare that they want an ad hoc committee, suspecting corruption and implying that President Rumen Radev had exerted pressure, she said.

According to Ninova, this change in position by the incumbent comes in response to the President's statement that the political class lacks the will to tackle corruption and that he takes on the initiative to demand a single anti-corruption body.
She said that BSP is backing the President in his battle. It is about time the political figures, specialists and professionals lead this battle to the end not just with words, but with actions, Ninova said.

GERB demanded the establishment of an ad hoc committee for everything connected to Parliament's decision to provide financial resources for the Bulgarian Army's rearmament, said here at a news conference on Sunday GERB Floor Leader Tsvetan Tsvetanov.

"We have enough suspicions that President Radev had backed the purchase of Swedish fighter aircraft and that this happened at a time when the caretaker government had not yet made a final decision," Tsvetanov said.