site.btaTISP Party Accuses Likely Supporters of Trying to Call the Tune

Sofia, July 29 (BTA) - Toshko Yordanov, Floor Leader of There Is
 Such a People (TISP), the largest group in the newly elected
National Assembly, on Thursday accused floor leaders Hristo
Ivanov of Democratic Bulgaria and Maya Manolova of Rise Up BG!
Here We Come! of trying to determine the complement of the new
cabinet.

The TISP Declaration

Yordanov said in a declaration in the National Assembly: "What
happened over the last four days to make Democratic Bulgaria
give up its position and suddenly begin to set conditions, make
claims and try to determine the complement of the cabinet,
although it is not the political force that won the elections?
This is surprising and unacceptable to us."

"What kind of games are being played in the 46th National
Assembly?" Yordanov wondered. "We entered politics only
recently, and we realize that politics is a dirty game, but it
is a dirty game when played by dirty people. TISP will not play
by these rules."

"Mr Hristo Ivanov and Mr Maya Manolova, you are obviously
failing to realize that you are giving [former prime minister]
Boyko Borissov a reason to rejoice and rub his hands, because
you are leading the country to new elections. It is astonishing
that you do not see that. It is even more astonishing if you see
 it but are still doing it. If you keep behaving this way, it
will happen and you will be the ones to blame," Yordanov said.

The TISP declaration comes in response to a Wednesday statement
by Democratic Bulgaria, which set a condition for its possible
support for the future government. The TISP parliamentary group
is in the middle of governance consultations with the other
groups except for GERB-UDF.

Yordanov recalled that during the consultations Democratic
Bulgaria said they do not mind who enters the future executive
government. "We do not know what has happened over the last four
 days, but Democratic Bulgaria has visibly made a U-turn.
Speaking from the rostrum in the National Assembly, Mr Hristo
Ivanov took the liberty not just to make claims about the
cabinet but to name concrete individuals who should take
ministerial seats. He named the following ministers of the
current caretaker government: Asen Vassilev, Kiril Petkov and
Nikolai Denkov, noting their expertise and moral integrity,"
Yordanov said.

Discrediting Accusations

The TISP Floor Leader provided discrediting details about
caretaker Finance Minister Asen Vassilev, who was in the
debating chamber of the National Assembly as well. According to
Yordanov, Vassilev stole intellectual property in his former
capacity as company CEO.

"An expert examination in London has proved that Asen Vassilev's
 new product was made using a code from a computer stolen
personally by Mr Vassilev," Yordanov said. He added that after
the findings of the expert examination became known, Vassilev's
lawyers reached an out-of-court settlement to pay several
million US dollars for the stolen intellectual property.

"We believe that a person who stole intellectual property,
something that was proven by a London court, should not become a
 Bulgarian minister. We know what it means to like someone, and
it is OK to like someone, but [the ministers] are people who
bear public responsibility," Yordanov said, noting that TISP
prefer professionals who have no problems with the law. He urged
 Ivanov to let himself be guided by the facts, not by his likes
and dislikes.

Approached by journalists for comment, Finance Minister Vassilev
 said: "I won all my lawsuits in a court in New York, so there
are no problems. What I am seriously worried about is why, after
 inviting me three times to join the future government, TISP
suddenly decided that I am highly problematic. Here, we see a
very long arm and a very well coordinated attack by the Movement
 for Rights and Freedoms [MRF] and Toshko Yordanov."

Meanwhile, TISP Floor Leader Yordanov explained at a briefing in
 the National Assembly that, initially, they invited Vassilev to
 become deputy prime minister for EU funds, because he had said
that he wanted to stop the flows of dirty money handled by the
MRF and GERB. However, Vassilev insisted he should be minister
of finance. "This put us on the alert, so we tried to figure out
 why he wants to be finance minister, and we got to the scheme
you heard about in the debating chamber earlier today," Yordanov
 said.

Questions of Principle Still Unanswered

Hristo Ivanov, the Floor Leader of Democratic Bulgaria, reacted
to the TISP declaration by saying: "No one should try to blame
us for their own failure to put together a compelling Council of
 Ministers, suggest a convincing political formula and answer
fundamental questions about the structure of the political
arena. We remain expectant, we remain constructive, as we said
yesterday, but we have raised questions of principle which are
still unanswered."

Maya Manolova of Rise Up BG! said the position of her
parliamentary group remains unchanged. She said: "We do not want
 ministerial seats or a share in the government, but we are
adamant that we will not support a government in which attempts
are made to install, either through the front door or the back
door, persons and influences related to GERB, the MRF and their
circles of cronies. Yesterday, we sounded an early warning with
our statement. An early warning it was, because we believe that
providing a possibility for GERB, the MRF and their oligarchic
circles to influence the formation of the new government would
be a way to supplant the will of the protesters and the
Bulgarian people."

Yordanov told journalists that TISP are ready with the structure
 and the complement of the government they will propose. "The
door is open for further talks with Democratic Bulgaria and Rise
 Up BG! Here We Come!" he added. He noted that the names of the
future cabinet members will be made public as soon as TISP
receive a government-forming mandate from President Rumen Radev.
 In fact, the mandate should be handed to the prime
minister-designate, so he should be identified in time for the
occasion, Yordanov explained. NV/VE