site.btaProgressive Bulgaria Subjected to Unprecedented, Fierce Attacks From All Sides, Group Says in Declaration

In a declaration read out in Parliament on Wednesday, the Progressive Bulgaria group said that the attacks against them in the first three months of the Rumen Radev Government have been unprecedented, fierce, intense, and coming from all sides. "One could easily be misled into thinking the criticism is justified, but anyone for whom facts matter should know that the vast majority of this criticism is based on false information - in fact, on outright fabrications," the declaration reads. It was presented to the National Assembly by MP Stoyan Trichkov. 

He called outright lies the opposition's claims that Progressive Bulgaria is against the project for a National Children's Hospital in Sofia because they did not include it in the 2026 state budget, and that they are giving money to Ukraine while claiming the opposite.

The National Children’s Hospital is a priority for Progressive Bulgaria, he noted. Trichkov explained that the investment company’s account currently holds over EUR 46 million euro, legal proceedings are underway, the design is being appealed, and no additional funds will be needed until the end of 2026. 

Andrey Gurov’s government decided to provide EUR 17 million to Ukraine; this money has already been disbursed and is included in the 2026 budget, along with all expenditures already incurred, Trichkov added. In his words, the position of Progressive Bulgaria is clear - they are against providing money and weapons for the war, because it has already been proven that this only exacerbates the problem. The solution lies in joint diplomatic efforts to facilitate peace negotiations and bring an end to hostilities. 

“Look at those who claim that we are lying and giving money to Ukraine, and that we are contradicting ourselves. Look at who these people are - they are not mistaken; they are liars and despicable manipulators,” Trichkov stated. He added that, to be even more persuasive, their opponents are activating their propaganda pages and influencers on social media, while analysts are making the rounds in the media “to explain how the Government is not getting the job done, how it is unprepared, how it is failing, and how they are just like the previous ones - even worse.” 

"The lies will not stop; in fact, I expect them to become even more unscrupulous. The liars will pull out all the stops in the coming months because they know it will become increasingly difficult for them to deceive people with every failed attempt at manipulation and every exposed lie - and because Bulgaria will soon move forward and upward, and then, dear manipulators, no one will believe you anymore,” Trichkov concluded. 

Following his statement, at the request of several parliamentary groups, National Assembly Chair Mihaela Dotsova reprimanded Trichkov for using offensive language. 

Also on Wednesday, Prime Minister Rumen Radev described the opposition's claim that the Government has given up on the National Children's Hospital as "speculation of the opposition." He said at the start of the regular Council of Ministers meeting that the Cabinet will take the project out of "the legal mess," return the control over it to the Health Ministry, and have the hospital built as quickly as possible, because it is a national priority, not "a sloppy means for political attacks".

"This is what those who were in power for 15 years - and who did not care at all about this hospital - claim, as do others who drew up the budget three times in five years and still never understood the plan for building this hospital or where the money is," he added. The accounts of the Health Investment Company, which is responsible for this hospital, show EUR 47 million, and there is no need to allocate additional funds this year, Radev further stated. "Moreover, even if there were EUR 1 billion, we could not spend a single euro this year, because it is precisely the negligence and incompetence of this patchwork administration that has brought us to this point; since 2023, when Galab Donev’s caretaker government [appointed by then president Rumen Radev] designated a construction site and developed a management plan, the result from then until now has been zero - there is no investment project, no designated designer, no building permit, and no designated contractor," Radev added.

In his words, the project is currently before the Supreme Administrative Court due to an appeal and has reached a dead end because of the incompetence and negligence of the coalition governments.