site.btaVelichie Highlights Stark Contrast Between Idyllic Western Life and Harsh Reality in Bulgaria

There is a huge contrast between Bulgaria and Europe, Ivelin Mihaylov, leader of Velichie, said during the Thursday debate on a no-confidence motion against the government. His address on behalf of the entire party group drew a stark contrast between an idyllic western society which he saw during a protest in Brussels co-organized by Velichie last week, and a gloomy picture in Bulgaria.

He said: “What we saw was a European city, we also saw the third largest city in Hungary, and we were impressed by the excellent infrastructure, bike lanes where mothers with two children were riding bikes. It was clean, with nice cafés, and generally living conditions that were truly wonderful. On this backdrop, some deputies and ministers voted for Bulgaria to join the eurozone because it has presumably converged with the standards of Europe. Now, I wonder how this Europe of cleanliness, beauty, and order is the same as the picture in Bulgaria. At the very moment this was being voted in Europe, in the village of Ruzhitsa, a farm worker was being 'fried' for three minutes with a cattle electroshock."

He was referring to reports of a local mobster terrorizing farmers with the authorities turning a blind eye to the problem. 

He went on to say that healthcare "has collapsed" and mentioned the  "EUR 500 that it thrown at" young doctors, referring to a controversial remark by MP Toshko Yordanov (There Is Such a People) to medical students and young doctors protesting against inadequate pay, that if they choose to leave the country as they say they would, third-country medics will happily take their place for a wage of EUR 500. 

He also spoke of “education in collapse" and said that was "because alcohol and drugs are the norm [among students], as well as screen addiction”.

Also there will be no money for pensions, "but this is not a problem because modern concentration camps - hospices - will quickly kill people". That was a reference to findings of inhuman conditions in some homes for elderly people.

He further spoke of "thousands of [illegal] landfills eating away at the body of our homeland".