site.btaGERB Leader: Transport Crisis Averted to Protect School Exams

GERB leader Boyko Borissov said on Wednesday that the public transport crisis in Sofia was resolved to avoid disrupting final school exams. Speaking on the sidelines of Parliament, he responded to questions about the State’s decision to allocate BGN 15 million to Sofia Municipality to address the situation.

Borissov said that if the municipality did not need the funds and believed they were “thrown from the SUV”, mayor Vasil Terziev should return them. He explained that after seeing tensions rise in the morning and learning that metro workers were also planning a protest, he contacted Rosen Zhelyazkov and urged action. Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov then invited Terziev for talks, but the mayor declined. Trade unions were invited instead and said they would not back down, Borissov added.

He said that the problems of other groups would not be solved in the same way. Asked how public transport salaries would be funded next year, Borissov said that if the State budget was backed by the Continue the Change (CC) and Democratic Bulgaria (DB) parties, the money would be secured.

Asked about Bulgaria joining the eurozone, Borissov said discussions on draft documents and emails before the June 4 report were premature. “There is a week left, and when the commissioner arrives, we will see what the report says,” he said.

Asked whether he had renegotiated the BOTAS agreement during his visit to Turkiye and his meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Borissov replied, “No, I did not renegotiate anything.” He added, “I did not expect a response because I did not go there to get one. What mattered was that, after years of cooperation and friendship, he heard from me that this is viewed negatively in Bulgaria.”