site.btaUPDATED GERB Leader Borissov Urges Energy Minister to Speak in Parliament Regarding Agreement with Protesting Miners, Energy Workers

GERB leader Boyko Borissov Wednesday asked Energy Minister Rumen Radev to speak in Parliament in connection with the draft resolution to approve the agreement with the protesting miners and energy workers, which the National Assembly is currently discussing at an extraordinary session.   

Asked to comment on Radev’s statement that the seven points of the agreement were difficult to implement, Borissov told journalists that he „did not know what these ministers were doing on Tuesday when the agreement was signed”. "I put my signature yesterday after hours of negotiations and if now the [Energy] Minister is going to say that this is not feasible, come and say it on the rostrum so I can vote against,” the GERB leader stated.

Borissov argued that Radev should either explain his words in front of the National Assembly or resign.

Movement for Rights and Freedoms MP Delyan Peevski took a similar stance, saying that if the Energy Minister has signed something that is unfeasible, his party will immediately demand his resignation. He added that Radev was present when the agreement was being prepared and “if he had something to say, he should have said it”.

Borissov commented that a lot of compromises were made during the negotiations - by the trade unions, the protesters and the government. “we will vote on the agreement that has been made, but from now on the Prime Minister Denkov is responsible everything to be agreed with Brussels,” added the GERB leader.

He stated that he could not attend the Tuesday meeting because he was in Sliven in connection with the local elections but pointed out that Peevski led the negotiations and brought them to a successful end.

Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov stressed that Radev's words were misinterpreted and it is correct that the agreement is hard to implement but feasible. "Of course it's difficult, if it was easy it would have been done by now. At the moment, there is no reason to ask for the Energy Minister's resignation because he is the person who has to do the huge part of the work that is to be done in the coming months, there is no one else to do it," Denkov explained.