site.btaPM Zhelyazkov Reacts to Continue the Change's Corruption Allegations about Construction of Ruse-Veliko Tarnovo Motorway

Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov Wednesday said the motorway which will link Ruse (on the Danube) and Veliko Tarnovo (Central Bulgaria) is a major project of national importance which transcends Bulgaria's borders. He called on Andrey Tsekov and Kiril Petkov MPs of Continue the Change to submit to the prosecution service the facts behind their allegations about a corruption scheme concerning a call for tenders for the construction of a 60-km section between Byala and Veliko Tarnovo.

Zhelyazkov said: "[Putting on] hard hats for the media is a staged act of political disinformation and manipulation, intended to justify the behaviour of the opposition, namely, Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria, during the adoption of the 2025 State Budget Bill."

Earlier in the day, Tsekov talked about "a scandalous corruption scheme" of the Zhelyazkov cabinet. The MP said the cost of construction, estimated at around BGN 3 billion, or BGN 50 million per kilometre, was inflated to include "a corruption surcharge per kilometre" of BGN 24 million - money which will allegedly be spent non-transparently.

Zhelyazkov said the MPs Tsekov and Petkov made certain claims about the government, "which, leaving aside the psychomorphological and linguistic aspects of the political narrative, must be clearly addressed to the responsible persons so that the public can get a clear answer, and any speculations can be dispelled". He said this is a vertical corridor, and it is crucial - both for the sake of the government and for transparency - to address carefully any issues related to it and dispel any manipulation.

Given that the second-reading debate on the state budget and the budgets of the National Health Insurance Fund and the Public Social Insurance Fund starts on Wednesday, any kind of political speculation and attacks on the Cabinet can be expected, said Zhelyazkov.