site.btaBoyko Borissov: GERB's New Goal Is Country's Modernization

GERB’s new goal is the modernization of the country, said party leader Boyko Borissov at a meeting with mayors from Northern Bulgaria in Veliko Tarnovo, livestreamed on Borissov’s Facebook profile. The meeting was attended by outgoing Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov, outgoing Energy Minister Zhecho Stankov, and Veliko Tarnovo Mayor Daniel Panov.

Borissov highlighted the achievements of Bulgaria’s IT sector and emphasized that the country has the most powerful AI sector, or one of the best in Europe. The GERB leader cited as examples the INSAIT institute, the industrial zone in the Tech Park, and the educational programs introduced by Education Minister Krasimir Valchev to respond to the rapidly changing global environment. Borissov noted that the world is developing so fast that children need to be offered innovative educational programs.

He added that GERB has brought the world’s largest companies to Bulgaria, which have invested billions of euros in the country due to its stability. “We have enterprises that are well above European standards,” Borissov said. He announced that the party’s election campaign will focus on industrialization, innovation, and the creation of high-tech products.

Borissov expressed disappointment that for such a long time the presidential institution has been used to conduct an unfair political campaign. “He [President Rumen Radev] always has a reserved spot in the media. He comes out like a cuckoo clock and then goes back in,” Borissov said. “Did you hear him say anything about the waste crisis and against his favorite mayor, Terziev? But against the government, every single day,” the GERB leader said. According to him, “cities cannot be sinking in filth and you keep silent just because you’re taking him abroad with you. But there the connection is through the communist-era state security. These parties that present themselves as the most democratic are actually the oldest Bolsheviks, the oldest communists, even the oldest satraps in our short history,” Borissov added.

Borissov said that over the past year the government has fulfilled all of its objectives. “What we gathered for, that’s what we did,” he said. “They wanted immediate elections, and we gave them immediate elections. What have they offered us so far other than their personal ambitions to control the repressive bodies of the state, which we want to abolish, not expand?” Borissov said. He emphasized that GERB has never used such methods or means.

Borissov described the adoption of the euro as a major achievement of GERB. “Imagine President Rumen Radev’s reaction if Romania had entered the eurozone and Bulgaria had been left out,” Borissov said. “What would this government, this prime minister, this GERB leader have been called?” he added, stressing that the European Parliament, the European Commission, and the European Council supported Bulgaria by a full majority. “And on top of that, they suspended the 27-year rule of law monitoring mechanism,” Borissov noted.

“Everyone came out to say how much they are against the euro - Radev, Vazrazhdane, and Continue the Change–Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB),” Borissov said. “But CC–DB, as always, acted hypocritically. They said they are ‘in favor’ of joining the euro, yet they also want a vote of no confidence to bring down the government,” the GERB leader said, asking how a country can be accepted into the eurozone with an ousted government and a submitted convergence report. “That’s why I say CC–DB are hypocrites. The government has resigned, and the euro is being introduced smoothly,” he added.

Borissov again commented on Sofia Mayor Vasil Terziev, emphasizing that Terziev himself has admitted that he has no plan to deal with the waste crisis. Borissov confirmed that he will continue to support the mayor even if he sets a price of BGN 380 per tonne for waste collection. “I want this mayor to stay until his very last working day, so it can be seen how CC–DB mayors govern,” Borissov said. He added that Terziev’s associates are attacking him, referring to Boris Bonev, leader of Save Sofia, who on Thursday expressed outrage that the mayor has no concrete plan to address the waste crisis.