site.btaPrime Minister Describes Budget Deficit as Large, Expects to Find "Bombs" Left by Previous Administration

“The budget deficit is large, and our task is above all to identify all unpaid activities carried out up to now,” Prime Minister Rumen Radev told journalists here on Saturday.

He said he expects to find “bombs” left by previous administrations. “Signals are already coming in about unbelievable activities for which huge sums have been paid. There are such ‘bombs’ even in ministries where you would not even expect them,” he added. “Fantastic contracts are starting to emerge for basic activities, for which enormous amounts have been paid. This is not a single contract – it is a system,” Radev said.

“We must set a realistic budget, not a wishful one; there is a big difference,” he added.

“I need people with organisational skills. You can see that the work is extremely dynamic, and I rely on people who have proven they can organise complex processes, such as our election campaign,” Radev said in relation to the appointment of Nikolay Koprinkov as head of the prime minister’s political cabinet.

According to him, Koprinkov is not responsible for organising party structures. The opposition, he added, has continued to criticise Koprinkov’s position around him, regardless of whether he holds an official post or not.