site.btaPresident Slams PM in Comments for Press, PM with Angry Response

Sofia, February 15 (BTA) - President Rumen Radev slammed Prime Minister Boyko Borissov for his remarks in a bTV interview on Wednesday and for downplaying the tangible problems of this country. Radev was speaking to reporters from various media outlets during a visit to the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA) on Thursday, prompting an angry response from Borissov later in the day in which he called the president words "an uncalled-for treacherous attack against the government".

The President said that it was "a gross manipulation to mention people from my administration together with the name of Mr [Delyan] Peevski". He was referring to the Prime Minister's words in the said TV interview that the President's chief of cabinet Ivo Hristov is to blame for the tension between the government and the President's Office.

Without saying Hristov's name, Borissov said: "There is a person in the President's Office who writes Radev's speeches. A media personality. I remember him from [satellite and cable TV operating between 2003 and 2013] BBT, Peevski's television."

In a Facebook post, Hristov denied the Prime Minister's hint and said he worked for BBT before it was acquired by controversial businessman- Delyan Peevski, who is now an MP of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF).

The President also said that Borissov "a received a Christmas gift: full and unconditional support" from MRF founder and honorary chairman Ahmed Dogan.

The President recalled that "Mr Borissov's party voted unanimously in support of a bill on [the failed] Corpbank" and went on to ask whether the Prime Minister "has had and continues to have meetings with Mr Peevski". "Has he had and does he still have shared business interests with Mr Peevski? Has he distributed and does he continue to distribute public procurements benefiting Mr Peevski?" the President asked.

The President said that the true reason for the tension between the government and himself is "the downplaying of problems concerning the national sovereignty; the sham ad hoc committee about the new fighter jets contract and the shameless lies surrounding it; the discontinued modernization and waste in the Armed Forces; [inadequate] government decisions and spending; the cementing of corruption in the new law [on fighting high-level corruption]; the practice of proposing changes to legislation - important changes - between initial and conclusive voting without public consultation and without asking the competent institutions for opinion; the collapse of foreign investment; the lack of efficient policy on the development of human capital; the deplorable pensions and wages after long years of boasting about economic growth and financial stability".

Of the upcoming meeting in the Bulgarian Black Sea city of Varna between the EU leaders and Turkish President Erdogan, he said that "it is important for Bulgaria's role as host to go beyond serving refreshments". "Bulgaria - and I expect this from the Prime Minister - should ask Mr Erdogan the questions which have long been awaiting answers: about guaranteeing Turkey's noninterference in Bulgaria's internal affairs and election process, about noninterference in the spiritual life of Bulgarian Muslims, about compensations to the Thracian refugees," said the President.

He was referring to 52,000 ethnic Bulgarians, who were forced to resettle to Bulgaria from Eastern Thrace in Turkey after the 1913 Second Balkan War, leaving behind land properties which, according to an official document prepared by the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry in 1983, were worth over 10,000 million US dollars at that time.

In a special statement from Sofia Airport before departing for an international forum in Munich, Prime Minister Borissov said that the President's "refreshments" remark sounded "somewhat envious".

He dismissed as "downright lie" any suggestions that he has a joint business with Delyan Peevski and urged the President to talk to the prosecution office if he has any proofs of the opposite. He also said that he is meeting with MPs from all political forces on a wide range of topics.

Borissov also said that Peevski is an MP from the MRF and if he is known to have committed any offences, the caretaker government which Radev appointed in January 2017 before the May 2017 general elections, should have probed the matter.

The Prime Minister also said that MRF consistently votes against the government and GERB is the only party which has never had MRF support during elections, while the Socialist party, which nominated Radev for his presidential bid, has enjoyed such support many times.

"I can ask the same style of questions: how much did the presidential campaign cost [Radev] and how was the deal made with MRF? Maybe through Delyan Peevski?" said Borissov.

He also said that the President "maybe cannot forgive me that we refused to purchase fighter jets for billions of leva". "We have other priorities: to raise the incomes of various groups of people," he said.

Borissov said that Rumen Radev should be the President of all Bulgarians and should stand at an equal distance from all parties. "It is not right for him to be so judgmental with some and take only the side of his Socialist party," he added.

Borissov pointed out that the President attacked both the government and Parliament. "Maybe he believes only the President should remain. If he wants a presidential republic, why doesn't he just say so," he said.