Bulgarian Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov on Monday held a Q&A session with members of the public and media outlets that was livestreamed on the official Facebook page of the Council of Ministers.
When and If He Will Resign
"I will resign if we prove unable to implement the governance programme," Denkov said, answering a question.
"When the [parliamentary] Budget and Finance Committee censured the budget, I called the political leaders and told them that unless this was addressed I would resign. I was ready with my resignation speech for the following morning, in case that decision failed. The budget was adopted the way it was supposed to be and I did not have to do it," the PM cited an example.
He emphasized that he was also ready to step down if the parliamentary groups backing his cabinet decide "they want a different PM." "If they ask me to resign, I will," Denkov added.
Cabinet Performance
"We set in motion all sectors that needed restarting. We are trying to raise the problems rather than hide them," the head of Government said during the livestream.
He commented on the performance of the Interior Ministry and the security services that has drawn public criticism in recent days. "It is important to give personnel a clear sign that they must start working far more actively on site: checking road traffic, blocking the drug trafficking networks. The last two months have seen some quite successful crack-downs on drug dealers. This is their [of the law enforcers'] job, that's what they are appointed for and paid for. A pay rise is pegged to a rise in expectations of their work," the Prime Minister commented. In his words, Interior Minister Kalin Stoyanov has clearly assured him that an effort will be made to improve performance.
"Those who cannot cope with this will have to look for another job," Denkov said.
"In the rest of the ministries, we are trying to do our job without making much fuss. The media have reported that, due to a delay, agricultural producers were at serious risk of not getting their subsidies handled by the Ministry of Agriculture and Food. That situation entirely predates the time we took office. The timeframe had to be changed very fast. Separately, the Minister said he had solved the problem with the [EU-funded Maritime, Fisheries and] Aquaculture Programme, where BGN 24 million could be lost," Denkov commented further on.
Energy Sector
Regarding the National Assembly resolution termination of the concession for the Rosenets oil port terminal, the PM said that problems should not be posed to the operation of the Lukoil Neftochim Burgas refinery which runs on supplies unloaded at that terminal. "The refinery is crucial for the fuel market situation. We should discuss ways of making sure that, while keeping the refinery working and using the opportunities of the derogation, Bulgarian citizens would have low-price fuels," Denkov pointed out. He was referring to a derogation from a EU regulation banning the supplies and processing in Bulgaria of crude oil originating in or exported from Russia that this country was allowed until the end of 2024.
"The agreement between Bulgargaz and Botas spells rather serious risks because it is long-term, for 13 years, and involves serious financial commitments that Bulgaria is bound to honour regardless of whether it imports gas or not," the PM said. He was referring to an agreement between Bulgargaz and Turkiye's State energy company Botas, signed by the caretaker government in Sofia on January 3, 2023, under which Botas will transit some 1.5 billion cu m of natural gas annually to Bulgaria and Bulgargaz will purchase and unload the supplies at five Turkish liquefied natural gas regasification terminals.
Constitutional Amendments
"The proposed revisions to the Constitution actually keep the status of the caretaker cabinets," Denkov explained. "What is proposed at this point is that the president can choose a [caretaker] prime minister from among three possible candidates. This is a practice used in other European countries," Denkov commented.
Eurozone and Schengen Entry
"It is high time we realized that the fears of the euro that are being instilled quite deliberately are to a huge extent unfounded," the PM noted. He said that the euro changeover communication campaign will be launched in September or October.
He argued that the lev-to-euro switch will save a lot of money to both businesses and individuals who need to use euros. "We must take care to control inflation, a communication campaign is needed, prices need to be cited in both euro and leva six months in advance [of the changeover], he explained.
Regarding the refusal of Austria and the Netherlands to agree to Bulgaria's admission to the Schengen area, Denkov said that Austria has a major problem with the 108,000 applicants for refugee status who have registered there, part of whom are from Bulgaria. "The efforts are focused on reducing the number of migrants who enter our territory, on apprehending them here, working with the EU structures. In the Netherlands, the problem is rather with the [Bulgarian] judicial system, the problems in it, countercorruption," the PM pointed out, adding that the laws passed by the National Assembly are steps in this direction.
Disinformation
"Public space abounds in substantial disinformation, invented allegations and interpretations that do not correspond at all to the truth," Denkov commented.
"What matters for combating disinformation is the functioning of the entities related to journalist ethical standards," he argued. "The Council for Electronic Media (CEM) is obviously not doing its job. Journalists who report untrue facts and are probably aware that they are untrue cannot go unpenalized in some way. Journalist ethics requires cross-checking what you report in several sources. There are basic standards that leading media around the world apply mandatorily," the Prime Minister said.
"There is no room for lies, unless the lies are clearly identified as such," Denkov added.
Asked for comment on a statement by CEM Chair Sonia Momchilova that "lies, too, have a right to life," the PM said: "The very fact that the CEM Chair can utter such a phrase shows that she is not in the right place."
2024 Budget
"Work on the 2024 budget is starting today," Denkov said. "A number of meetings will be held to define the key priorities embedded in the governance programmes and the modalities for their implementation," he explained.
"Pay levels vary from one administration and public-financed sector to another, and this variation is not properly justified. There is no clear link between salaries and job descriptions. A review is to be made to find where salaries are too low, so that they could catch up to a certain extent," the Prime Minister said.
Ukraine and NATO
"The Black Sea is being militarized, whether we want it or not," Denkov said. He blames the militarization on Russia's aggression. "Russian ships were deployed in the Bulgarian [exclusive] economic zone in the Black Sea because of an exercise," he recalled, noting that Russia may extend for a third time its notification establishing a temporary warning area in the Black Sea, which includes parts of Bulgaria's exclusive economic zone, on account of conducting military exercises. The notification was initially made on July 18 for ten days and was extended for a further ten days July 29.
In the PM's view, the way Bulgaria can defend itself is by building its armed forces and getting integrated into NATO structures because "this is our bomb shelter today." "Ukraine was attacked because it was not part of NATO. An attack against Bulgaria would be considered as an attack against NATO," Denkov said.
He assured his audience that the Cabinet will be reporting back on the results of its work on a monthly basis.
/RY/
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