site.btaPM Denkov, Finance Minister Vassilev, Sports Minister Iliev Not Involved in Corruption, CC Co-chair Petkov Says

Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov, Finance Minister Assen Vassilev and Sports Minister Dimitar Iliev are not in any way involved in corruption, Continue the Change (CC) Co-chair Kiril Petkov told reporters in Parliament on Thursday. Petkov admitted he knows that he and his colleagues need to fight corruption in all the structures of the system daily, adding that this is why an anti-corruption law was adopted. In his words, Sports Minister Iliev is not corrupt and is doing his best in the current situation.

Petkov said he does not receive a single penny from anywhere except his salary as a member of parliament and can declare his income. He said he would be happy to see an anti-corruption commission so strong that the whole Bulgarian society could trust it once all politicians suspected of corruption have been checked.

“In this political competition everyone is lurking so much that this is perhaps the quickest way to clear any suspicions of corruption among political parties. If it were not for this competition [...] I would be worried, Petkov stressed. He said everyone now keeps an eye on everyone in politics and this removes the risk of corruption.

Answering a question how CC-DB would convince GERB-UDF and the Movement for Rights and Freedoms that Nikolay Denkov had the qualities to become foreign minister after the rotation, Petkov said that it depends on whether Mariya Gabriel would have the necessary qualities to become prime minister. "I personally believe that her qualities as prime minister will be good," he said and added: "When you have been prime minister and you have sat with all the prime ministers in Europe, you are not only at the level of the highest diplomacy, but you can also really deal with any situation". In his words, when they [Denkov and Gabriel] work in tandem, it "gives Bulgaria its real strength". "Let us leave them work in tandem and not try to interfere with them with any recommendations," Petkov noted.

According to him, this government's future lies within symmetry in foreign relations and truth.

Referring to a statement of GERB leader Boyko Borissov, Petkov said that Interior Minister Kalin Stoyanov has been appointed by GERB and "there is no point in pretending he is not". Earlier on Thursday, Borissov said that "the Interior Minister is a Minister of Bulgaria, not of GERB".