site.btaMorality, Unity, Honour's Vasilev Slams Zhelyazkov Cabinet, Says it Lacks Principles

Radostin Vasilev, leader of the Morality, Unity, Honour (MECh) party, addressed Parliament here on Thursday, expressing his views during the discussion on the Zhelyazkov cabinet. 

Vasilev said this would be a government led by GERB leader Boyko Borissov, There Is such a People (TISP) leader Slavi Trifonov, Democracy, Rights and Freedoms (DRF) leader Ahmed Dogan [DRF is the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) faction whose members remained loyal to MRF founder and former honorary chair Ahmed Dogan], and the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) in a very unusual triumvirate.

Vasilev said that this government cannot be anti-corruption or reformist, nor can it uphold the rule of law in Bulgaria. He pointed out that the biggest corruption scandals have been associated with GERB's leadership at different times.

He described the government as completely lacking principles, stating, "We witness the political and physical survival of a parliamentary group, a party, the final cash-out of a business project by Slavi Trifonov, and the ambition of a few people, who were first supporters, and later became rivals of [former BSP leader] Korneliya Ninova, to become ministers. We also see Ahmed Dogan, whose party would not exist if new elections were to happen, desperate for a lifeline," Vasilev said. "I do not believe that the three parties and one supporting party have united for the benefit of the Bulgarian people," he added.

Addressing TISP, Vasilev said, "Two years later, it is clear that the sole purpose of TISP's creation—to oppose Borissov's model—is no longer relevant to you. You have been fully exposed. You lack any justification to back Borissov or to anticipate support from Dogan," he added.

Vasilev remarked, "Today is the day Slavi Trifonov finally chose not to age like a cathedral, as he himself told [journalist] Kevork Kevorkian 20 years ago, but to age like cracked leather." 

He added that TISP MPs Toshko Yordanov and Stanislav Balabanov would be "the trousers of Slavi Trifonov, covering his shame in Parliament, while a few brokers capitalize on TISP’s last participation in the Bulgarian parliament."

MECh leader added that videos of Slavi Trifonov's promises are circulating online. From the parliamentary podium, Vasilev played a recording where Trifonov responded "no" to the question of whether he would form a coalition with Borissov.