site.btaGERB Leader Borissov: We Will Not Forget There Was No Recovery Plan for Four Years

GERB leader Boyko Borissov told journalists in Parliament on Wednesday, “We will not forget that there was no [National] Recovery [and Resilience] Plan for four years, and the only name on the programme of Continue the Change was Boyko Rashkov for head of the Counter-Corruption Commission.” He was asked whether Anton Slavchev (currently head of the Counter-Corruption Commission) was GERB’s nomination to head the commission. “What Kiril Petkov says is the last thing I care about,” Borisov added. Earlier, Kiril Petkov, co-leader of Continue the Change, told journalists that the adding to the legislature's agenda of the rules of procedure for selecting the members of the anti-corruption commission has been delayed yet again.

In 2022, then PM Kiril Petkov from Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB) said that Interior Minister Boyko Rashkov would be his coalition’s nomination to head the Counter Corruption and Unlawfully Acquired Assets Forfeiture Commission. Earlier that same year, Rashkov arrested former Prime Minister and opposition GERB party leader Boyko Borissov. The arrest was later declared illegal by the court.

Bulgaria's Recovery and Resilience Plan has faced delays and challenges, including the need to revise the plan due to inflation and political obstacles. The deadline for implementing the Plan is August 2026.

In response to criticism by President Rumen Radev, Borissov said that the head of State would be leaving on another visit tomorrow. He added that it was evident that the government plane was constantly flying, and that was why Bulgarian citizens were brought back from Israel on a civil flight. “If you notice, he [Radev] is constantly flying and the international activities he carries out have enormous benefits for Bulgaria, like BOTAS,” Borissov said. He added that the contract costs the state BGN 1,050,000 per day, and “when we transport gas, the sum is even larger”.

On January 3, 2023, the Bulgarian state-owed natural gas supplier Bulgargaz and Turkish energy company BOTAS signed an interconnection agreement, under which the Bulgarian side booked capacity of 106.4 GWh/day on the Turkish LNG regasification terminals and agreed to pay for this BGN 1 million (EUR 512,000) daily for a period ending in 2035. If the 13-year take-or-pay agreement is rescinded, the Bulgarian company will be liable for close to BGN 3 billion in damages. 

When asked about the proposed change in the parliamentary rules, so that one party name abbreviation cannot be used by two parliamentary groups, Borissov said that each parliamentary group should be called as it was registered in the elections.

A proposed amendment to the Rules of Procedure of Bulgaria’s National Assembly to prevent two parliamentary groups from using the same name or abbreviation was submitted by Parliament Chair Nataliya Kiselova last week. It was in response to a request by MPs from the parliamentary group of Movement for Rights and Freedoms – New Beginning (MRF - New Beginning), who argue that names and abbreviations of parliamentary groups should align with the registration of political parties or coalitions in the Central Election Commission (CEC).