site.btaNikolai Barekov Withdraws Unconditional Support for Bulgarian Democratic Centre Group in Parliament

Nikolai Barekov Withdraws Unconditional Support for Bulgarian Democratic Centre Group in Parliament


Sofia, December 20 (BTA) - Nikolai Barekov MEP (Member of the
Bureau of the European Conservatives and Reformists Group) and
leader of Bulgaria without Censorship (BwC) , said on Saturday
he was withdrawing his unconditional support for the
parliamentary group of the Bulgarian Democratic Centre (BDC).

The press office of Barekov's party quoted him as saying: "Our
voters have not voted for people who entered Parliament thanks
to me and to BwC to put the Interior Ministry back into the
hands of [GERB's first cabinet's interior minister Tsvetan]
Tsvetanov and to rob people of their money."

He withdrew his support from the parliamentary group but not
from the MPs who voted against an amendment to the Social
Insurance Code entered by GERB: Svetlin Tanchev, Stefan Kenov,
Martin Ivanov, Georgi Kovachev, Borislav Iglev and Hristo
Todorov. Barekov predicted that the Corpbank crisis, caused by a
run on the bank in June, would be repeated, this time with
regard to universal pension funds. That is why the Financial
Supervision Commission should state clearly if there is a
problem with those funds.

On December 19, Parliament amended the Social Insurance Code to
allow persons born after December 31, 1959 to choose
irreversibly, on a single occasion within one year of entering
the system, whether to have their supplementary compulsory
retirement insurance handled by the National Social Security
Institute (NSSI) in a first pillar pay-as-you-go system or by a
private universal pension fund in a second pillar fully-funded
system. The one-year deadline does not apply to persons who are
already insured for a supplementary pension with a private fund.
They can stay there or switch to the NSSI at any time until
they retire.

Barekov said he would back his MPs while they acted as a real
opposition.

He also said he extended a hand to Radan Kanev, leader of the
Democrats for Strong Bulgaria, which is part of GERB's coalition
partner, the Reformist Bloc, for a new opposition bloc against
the status quo. Barekov called on Kanev to plan strong reforms
and stop the oligarchy and corruption, which he said were
embodied by GERB, the Bulgarian Socialist Party and the Movement
for Rights and Freedoms.