site.btaABV Nominates Mayors in over 85 Municipalities, Supports Socialist Party Nominees in Four

ABV Nominates Mayors in over 85 Municipalities, Supports Socialist Party Nominees in Four

Sofia, August 19 (BTA) - To date, the ABV party has 135 nominees
 for mayors in the forthcoming local elections, including 30
independent, ABV Deputy Chairman Roumen Petkov told a news
conference Wednesday. ABV is supporting the nominations of the
Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) in four municipalities, while in
 others it is part of coalition agreements, Petkov said, quoting
 Kozloduy and Souhindol as examples. The party is running with
its own candidates in over 85 municipalities, which is
indicative of the self-confidence of its structures and of
energy and capacity to form policies, Petkov noted, adding that
ABV has nominees for mayors in 18 of the 26 regions in Bulgaria.

In respect to the shared nominations with BSP, the ABV Chairman
and president of Bulgaria from 2002 to 2012, Georgi Purvanov,
pointed out that his party would make a compromise and provide
support where there is a strong mayor. These steps are made at
grassroots level, there is no dialogue at top level, he noted.
In his words, someone somewhere has decided that the BSP should
again spearhead its blow against ABV. He would also refer the
attack against himself and his family in the last three weeks to
 the same approach. The attacks were related to publications
about the purchase of a hotel in Kyustendil by his son.

Purvanov also requested a special inquiry committee to
investigate what money was spent by Bulgaria and who has
benefited from the South Stream natural gas pipeline. He
suggested that the committee should be headed by the Reformist
Bloc.

Purvanov was also asked to comment on the words of Russian
President Vladimir Putin about South Stream and Bulgaria. What
Putin said may provide the opportunity for a relaunch of
Bulgarian-Russian relations  on energy projects, but also for
reducing the tension between Europe and Russia, the ABV leader
said. Bulgarian-Russian relations should not be dependent on the
 current state of affairs. In the long term, the countries
should be together, not only because of tradition but also
because of pending tasks, one of which is energy, he added.

On Monday, President Putin said that Bulgaria's membership in
NATO did not mean Moscow would break off relations with Sofia,
Russia's TASS news agency reported. "I don't know whether
Bulgaria itself is happy with it. But the decision has been
made. This is a sovereign choice of the Bulgarian people and we
respect it and will cooperate with Bulgaria, despite all
difficulties connected with the implementation of some projects,
 including energy projects such as South Stream," Putin said,
recalling that Sofia had suspended work on Gazprom's South
Stream gas pipeline after pressure from the European Commission.
 "This does not mean we will not develop relations with
Bulgaria," Putin said.