site.btaUPDATED PM Urges GERB to Withdraw Mavrov as Deputy Governor of National Health Insurance Fund over SANS Report

Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov urged GERB to withdraw Momchil Mavrov as Deputy Governor of the National Health Insurance Fund, as he pointed out Friday that Mavrov's election violated two principles. During a briefing in Parliament, Denkov said that he had personally seen a report from the State Agency National Security to the Prosecution Office that this person had lobbied. Last week the Prime Minister ordered the report to be sent to National Assembly Chair Rosen Zhelyazkov.

"The election of this person to a position that is related to the distribution of BGN 8 billion a year is a problem and GERB and Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) know it," Denkov stressed.

"The deal with GERB has always been the same - that we have to have an agreement that the people who are appointed are acceptable on both sides, in the sense that there are no problems of this type, but yesterday [November 31], GERB and MRF chose this person by force with the assistance of Vazrazhhdane," the Prime Minister explained. 

GERB has been delaying the adoption of the rules for the election of the anti-corruption commission for two weeks now and it is key for the fight against corruption, Denkov pointed out. To fill it with people like Mavrov will mean to take a step in the opposite direction and to let people with questionable qualities try to govern Bulgaria, he stated.

"Either GERB will go back on the way we follow with the preparation of the laws that need to be adopted, with the implementation of the government programme, or we in the last two weeks have strayed in the wrong direction," the Prime Minister stated. In his words, this is what is at stake and that is why emotions are a little higher.

The way of decision-making that was demonstrated is absolutely unacceptable and could be extremely dangerous, even fatal for the development of Bulgaria if it is applied in the coming days and weeks because the amendments to the Constitution, the composition of the anti-corruption commission and the regulators are expected to be voted, the Denkov warned.

According to the prime minister, it is important to outline a mechanism for decision-making between the formations in the government. He said what happened on Thursday [Mavrov’s election] was a test in this sense. “We expect GERB to finally sign the document [on the mechanism] after we sent it to them in June-July,” Denkov insisted. 

He noted that GERB was trying to work on a quota principle. “We with [Deputy Prime Minister] Mariya Gabriel have said from the very beginning that this will not happen and the way to realize cooperation in the government is for the persons who are elected to be acceptable to me and to her, so that we know that there will be no persons with questionable reputations,” Denkov stressed. He added that this was violated on Thursday.

"I am making sure that the ministers fulfill their duties, that they move things along," the Prime Minister assured and recalled that he had set a condition for the Interior Minister Kalin Stoyanov to provide clear results of the investigation in connection with the police violence during the November 16 protest against the Bulgarian Football Union's leadership. The unofficial information from Stoyanov, according to Denkov, is that there is progress and decisive results can be expected.

Denkov also commented on MRF floor leader Delyan Peevski's remarks towards him in the last few days: "I have quite good nerves, I am not interested in petty statements, provocations, which are an everyday occurrence," the Prime Minister assured. "I am interested in whether we are going in the right direction," he added and noted that if this does not happen, there is no point in this government - it exists because there is a parliament. And vice versa - this parliament has it because there is a government that is "pushing" things in the right direction and has to work in coordination with the National Assembly," Denkov pointed out. "We are at arm's length from Schengen, we have to keep working for the Bulgarian citizens," the Prime Minister highlighted.