site.btaVice President Talks to Students from Politics from Within Initiative

Vice President Iliana Iotova met with participants in the student initiative Politics from Within on Tuesday. “Our big task is to build and stimulate an active civic position, because it is key to solving many of the problems Bulgaria faces,” she said, quoted by the presidential press service.   

The two-hour discussion focused on a wide range of issues,  from demographic policy and priorities for the development of the Bulgarian economy through the recent changes in the Constitution to the lack of trust in the political process and the functioning of institutions.

The students showed interest in the positions of the Vice President in relation to the recent changes in the Constitution and their effectiveness. "The changes regarding the formation of a caretaker government were dictated by political reasons and were entirely directed against President Rumen Radev. And the reason he formed caretaker cabinets was the inability of the parliamentary parties to form a regular government after so many elections," Yotova pointed out. She stated that one of the main problems of the changes is who bears political responsibility for the caretaker cabinet and its actions. The Vice President also noted that the consequences of the ill-conceived changes are constantly emerging, including now, when the election of an ombudsman is imminent - a position that is included in the list of potential caretaker prime ministers. "These positions are viewed through this perspective, and not whether the candidates for them possess the necessary professional qualities," the Vice President said.

The conversation also centred around on the decision of the Constitutional Court to partially annul the elections for members of parliament, as well as the violations related to the electoral process. Iotova expressed the opinion that a campaign was conducted against the decision of the Constitutional Court, which found violations that the media has been showing for years, and that people know about. "We have an acute deficit of a state, and a state can, with all its power and tools, deal with the violations of the electoral process. What is needed is will, not a transfer of responsibility," the Vice President argued.

The students also raised the issue of corruption and the effective fight against it. "There is no panacea for dealing with this problem, the solution is not for all possible structures to fight it. This is a long process that starts from the family environment and education. At its core is the upbringing of public intolerance towards corruption," Iotova said.

The Vice President advised young people not to stop building their knowledge and skills.