site.btaSocialists Ask Foreign Minister about Rumoured Bulgarian Nomination for UN Secretariat

Socialists Ask Foreign Minister about Rumoured Bulgarian Nomination for UN Secretariat

Sofia, December 14 (BTA) - Foreign Minister Daniel Mitov Wednesday dismissed rumours that Bulgaria has nominated somebody for a high UN position. Speaking to the press, Mitov said that the Government might have intentions to nominate someone for a top-rank position but this intention has neither taken a concrete form nor has it been submitted at the UN Secretariat, he added.

Mitov's remarks were prompted by a question by the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) about a rumoured nomination made December 9 for a top position in the UN Secretariat. Asking the question, BSP leader Kornelia Ninova asked who made the decision and when. She also suggested that the rumoured candidate is Kristalina Georgieva and that she has been tipped for the position of leader of the UN Development Programme.

She said it was wrong to make such an important nomination in the dark and at the very end of the tenure of this government.

She also said that "back-stage dealing continues to Bulgaria's deteriment".

Ninova made a point of saying that her party is not against having Bulgarians nominated for top-rank international offices but against doing this in secrecy.

She further said that a decision by the outgoing government of Boyko Borissov to withdraw Bulgaria's candidacy for the UN Security Council for 2018-2019, amounted to "high treason".

Ninova said that the UN Security Council seat was traded with Poland for support for Kristalina Georgieva in her bid for UN Secretary-General.

Foreign Minister Daniel Mitov said that Kristalina Georgieva has nothing to do with this. "She is going to the World Bank," Mitov said.

He went on to explain that the Security Council candidacy withdrawal was the end of a long process which began back in 2014. It was indeed traded with Poland but in exchange for support for Irina Bokova when she was nominated as Bulgaria's candidate for UN Secretary-General by the Plamen Oresharski government. "Prioritizing had to be done because Bulgaria's first Chairmanship of the Council of the European Union coincided with the candidacy for the UN Security Council," the Foreign Minister added.

Bokova's nomination was changed with that of Kristalina Georgieva late in the UN election process when it became clear that Bokova would not get the support she needed to be elected UN Secretary-General.

Mitov also said the only reason the Socialists speak of detriment to Bulgaria is because it is not their people who get nominated.

Asked whether and a possible Bulgarian candidate for the UN Secretariat will hinder the chances of the current UNESCO Secretary General, Irina Bokova, of being elected to become a deputy of Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Mitov said that a deputy for Guterres has already been elected and Irina Bokova has nothing to do with that. There is still time before her term at UNESCO expires, he added.