site.btaVelichie Calls on Opposition to Take Joint Action to Bring Government Down in Connection with Wall Street Journal Publication

In a statement read out from the parliamentary rostrum on Wednesday, Velichie called on the opposition in the National Assembly to take joint action to bring the government down in connection with the Wall Street Journal publication.

The article reads that "former Prime Minister Boyko Borissov, still Bulgaria’s most powerful man,” saw an opportunity in April when Trump Jr. was on his Eastern European tour, to “advertise the pipeline and other Bulgarian assets.” Borissov hoped, the article adds, to “secure a meeting with the US President he met in 2019” and was “seeking relief from US Magnitsky Act sanctions for some of his close allies.”

“We are giving Vazrazhdane and all opposition parties a chance not to let this issue fade into obscurity, let’s bring about the fall of this government,” Velichie Floor Leader Ivelin Mihaylov said. He promised that if Vazrazhdane supports them, they will publicly admit that they were wrong about them. “We will observe their deeds, from now on, we will see who wants Bulgaria out of this “mafia governance” and who supports it,” Mihaylov added.

According to him, the article reveals how "the criminal governance of Bulgaria" happens. The worst thing is "the international embarrassment we experience every day with the existence of this tragic National Assembly," he said. The article describes something “close to a scenario from the era of Al Capone rather than an EU Member State” that meets all the requirements for a democratic state, which should be expected as PACE has ended its monitoring of the country, Mihaylov added. On October 1, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) decided to end the post-monitoring dialogue with Bulgaria and continue to follow the country’s progress through periodic reviews.

According to Velichie, the scenario is to exchange national wealth for the annulment of the convictions of "criminals". “GERB and MRF members have been sanctioned under the Global Magnitsky Act for serious corruption offences, namely [Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) – New Beginning leader] Delyan Peevski and former [GERB] Finance Minister Vladislav Goranov,” the MP said. He added that Boyko Borissov has decided to pull them out of it by offering Balkan Stream [TurkStream on Bulgarian territory] and Lukoil [Neftohim refinery in Burgas] in exchange. “Instead of these people receiving appropriate punishment, we are giving away assets worth billions, strategic advantage, and our sovereignty,” Velichie’s statement said.

“Borissov responds to these accusations by saying that he is offering investments,” Mihaylov added. "In 2023, Boyko Borissov summoned me to his office. At the time, I was an entrepreneur, not a politician, and he told me that the Serbian Prime Minister had spoken to him about installing wind turbines in three municipalities in Bulgaria," Mihaylov said. “This is not national sovereignty, he is not a statesman, a person who can run the country,” Mihaylov added.

“As soon as this National Assembly was formed, Borissov negotiated with Delyan Peevski, with the Bulgarian Socialist Party, with There Is Such a People, perhaps with Democratic Bulgaria, and most likely with Vazrazhdane, to become prime minister,” he added. According to Mihaylov, the scenario is for the current Prime Minister [Rosen Zhelyazkov] to resign because of the “waterfall” [hotel, linked to Zhelyazkov’s wife] and for the leader of GERB to take his place.