site.btaPresident Calls for Updating National Budget, Uncovering Whole Truth about Corpbank

Sofia, July 25 (BTA) - Addressing the National Assembly on Friday, President Rosen Plevneliev called for updating the national budget and uncovering the whole truth about the troubled Corporate Commercial Bank (Corpbank) which is under special supervision by the central bank. Plevneliev urged the politicians to leave national issues out of the campaign struggle ahead of the October 5 early parliamentary elections. "What matters most is the real problems of the people," Plevneliev said.

He called on the National Assembly to show political maturity, reinforce the banking system, update the national budget and the budget of the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF), and authorize the future caretaker government to take out external loans, if necessary, for the purposes of banking stability and social protection.

Revising the national budget and the NHIF budget, as proposed by the government, is one of the most important tasks which the National Assembly can address in the coming days, Plevneliev said. "I believe this is essential in order to spare the institutions, hospitals, municipalities and every individual any further consequences from the political instability in this country," he said.

He called for an objective, non-political estimate of public revenues, expenditures and risks. "We need to revise the budget for the sake of patients, hospitals and municipalities and in order to unblock two EU-backed programmes. We had better pay 200 million leva now in order to expedite the absorption of the remaining 6 billion leva [in EU aid] until the end of 2015," the President said. According to him, the national budget should be revised for the sake of construction businesses whose money has been in arrears for months. And also, it should be revised in order to avert possible insecurity in the financial sector amid  the future absence of a functioning National Assembly.

"We need to make efforts to get the nation through the difficulties and achieve greater political and institutional
stability," Plevneliev said. He recalled that an agreement to this effect was reached during his consultations with political parties. During the consultations, he said, the political forces agreed on the date for the early parliamentary elections and set out urgent steps which should be taken by the National Assembly and the government in order to make sure that the state will function normally until the next regular cabinet is
elected.

The President said it has been an unusually difficult political year, a year of confrontation which has undermined public confidence in politicians and institutions. For the second time in two years, there will be three governments replacing one another in the space of half a year, he said, describing the political instability in Bulgaria. He urged the public institutions to continue to perform their duties conscientiously until the National Assembly is dissolved on August 6. "We have more things to do. I have repeatedly called on the institutions to show responsibility," Plevneliev said.

He described the case of Corpbank as a "major test for the Bulgarian state" and called for uncovering the whole truth about it. "If the whole truth is uncovered about the unlawful connections of politicians, judges, prosecutors and public figures with Corpbank, the would-be transition in Bulgaria will end and a genuine transition will begin. Bulgarian statehood will thus take a bold leap forward, morally and institutionally, in the eyes of the citizens," Plevneliev said.

The truth about the affiliation of the Bulgarian political and social elite with the former Communist secret services has remained partly unsaid for 25 years, he argued. "Today, we should not make the same mistake again. Our children will never forgive us if we fail to open the Corpbank files. If we allow for the truth about Corpbank to be swept under the carpet, if we make the Corpbank files into another gold mine for political blackmail like the State Security files, this will be a strategic mistake for the nation," he said.

Plevneliev urged the competent financial and investigative agencies to coordinate their actions and do their job. This, he said, implies a comprehensive review of Corpbank's assets, an assessment of its loans and guarantees. Bulgarian and international auditors should check if there is a "hole" at Corpbank, and if so, how big it is. If there is a "hole," the authorities should find out where the money went and should hold the recipient liable, the President said.

He expects the National Assembly to pronounce itself on the personnel problem at BNB as soon as possible. "Today, we have a deputy governor [at BNB] in charge of banking supervision, but he has been accused of wrongdoing, and besides that, he has taken a leave of office at a time when there is trouble with a large bank. On the other hand, the BNB governor has said he is ready to resign. I hope the National Assembly will tackle this instability and pronounce itself on the personnel problem at BNB as soon as possible," Plevneliev said.

He called on the MPs to achieve consensus and help overcome the crisis.