site.btaBSP Leader Ninova Says Socialists Will Not Support Fast-track Constitutional Amendments in Parliament

“I want to give you guarantees today that when it comes to the votes of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) in Parliament for the fast-track procedure to change the Constitution, it will not happen. The ruling majority will not get a single socialist MP vote. We will not agree to people with dual citizenship to rule us, and to cancellation of March 3  as a national holiday, as well as to pseudo-reforms in the judiciary. They will meet the strongest resistance from the BSP,” said the Socialists' leader Korneliay Ninova in the locality of Zhabokrek, below the Rila Monastery. 

Ninova participated in the traditional gathering of socialists from Kyustendil and Blagoevgrad regions, where at the end of August the anniversary of a raid by partisans from the Rilo-Pirin detachment, led by the commander Vasil Demirevski-Zhelyo, is celebrated.  Over 300 partisans attacked government facilities along the Rila river in this controversial raid, including a sanatorium, where wounded and unarmed German soldiers were killed, according to locals and former prime minister Bogdan Filov, who visited the area shortly after the raid. The participating partisans claimed that the attack was against active Wehrmacht and Bulgarian government forces. The Soviet-backed communist regime, which came to power less than a month later, has glorified the raid as a successful operation against the fascist regime in Bulgaria.  

"We gather in this place to pay tribute to the anti-fascists who gave their lives in the fight against the brown plague. But today the situation is different from any other time we have been here together - there is a process of replacement of Bulgarian history, of erasure of Bulgarian memory. Today's generation does not know what Bulgarian is, what homeland is, what history is and what a heroic Bulgarian nation is, Ninova told the socialist supporters.

"We strongly oppose the removal of the Soviet Army Monument. You know that we replaced the broken plaque with our own funds, but that did not stop those parties who, unable to offer a future to their people, divide them and pit them against each other on the basis of the past. This process culminated in the cynical proposal to change the national holiday of March 3," Ninova said. In her speech, she pointed out that the BSP is the only party that has a history, ideology and structures, and which can oppose this process.

The parties that call themselves Right-wing and Euro-Atlantic are represented by children and grandchildren of communists. They renounce their fathers and mothers, they revile their families. A man who can give up his parents without shame will also give up his country, the Socialist leader said.

She pointed out that "supposedly for the sake of change", the thuggish model of [GERB leader and former prime minister Boyko] Borissov's rule has returned in Bulgaria, "along with his bickering and return to power". We have not fought for seven years with this model to surrender now, Ninova added. "We will not surrender in the face of the new powerholders - [which are] the old ones, but with Continue the Change and Democratic Bulgaria added to them. She criticized the ruling majority for giving people false hopes, ending controversial cases into alleged high-level corruption and money laundering, the return of contract killings, soaring inflation and fuel prices. "There is nothing European in this government, nothing popular, because if the first governments of Borissov were corrupt, these are against the people, Ninova said.

She urged her supporters not to lose faith and hope, noting that things can be changed through the upcoming local elections. 

The gathering was attended by party structures from across the Southwest as well as mayoral candidates in the area. There was a also musical programme, food and a formal part in the area of Kirilova Meadow, above the Monastery.