In all probability, this will not be the last early parliamentary elections for this year, because the mood for the upcoming election campaign is minor, almost gray.

People are in no mood for elections, political parties are also in no mood, everyone is waiting, bowing down and very much wanting to outdo the other.

For "Magnitsky", for Vladislav Goranov, for the reaction of Boyko Borisov, for the unification of PP and DB.

Tsvetan Tsvetanov spoke to FACTS

Tsvetan Genchev Tsvetanov was born on April 8, 1965 in Sofia. In 1987, Tsvetanov started working as a leader of "Republicans for Bulgaria

Republicans for Bulgaria is a political party in Bulgaria, established in 2020".



- Mr. Tsvetanov, another early election is coming up.

Is the apathy of the people or the ambition of the political parties greater now?


- What we observe in the last two early parliamentary votes is a low voter turnout.

We see people's disillusionment with the state of democracy and with the qualities and behavior of politicians who have not been up to the task of solving citizens' problems.

People don't have any expectations anymore.

They feel hopeless and the only thing they understand is that there is no one to vote for.

The good news, however, is that there is already a new union in our country - I'm talking about "Democratic Bulgaria

"Democratic Bulgaria" is a center-right political association composed of" and "We continue the change

Kiril Petkov and Asen Vassilev presented their political project "We continue the change", which recognizes the shortcomings of our political reality.

Let's take our time and first see what ideas they have, what they are planning, so that it can really be assessed what is the resource for expanding their periphery to the right.

The goal is to elect more people's representatives from the coalition between PP and DB, who will carry out the necessary reforms for our country and bring it successfully through a difficult period.



- Sociology currently gives a minimal lead to GERB-SDS over the union of PP and DB.

What do you expect?


- It all depends on how "We continue the change

Kiril Petkov and Asen Vassilev presented their political project "We continue the change" and "Democratic Bulgaria

"Democratic Bulgaria" is a center-right political union composed of" will benefit from this union.

Will they be able to open up to their much-needed fringes on the right and give the democratic right-wing voter the opportunity to vote and know that his vote will go to something big and really useful.

If that happens, I think it will be good for the country.

Otherwise, the union between PP and DB does not necessarily turn out to be a mathematical sum.

If the unification remains only between the two formations, 1+1 may turn out to be 1 again. If a wider periphery is reached to cover the entire country, the 1+1 result may significantly exceed 2. - The "Magnetic" list



, which was released just now, will it play a role in the vote…


- In any case, it will have an impact on the attitudes of those people who are hesitating whether to vote.

We see what is the defense thesis of GERB, BSP and DPS.

They will certainly be geared towards seeking maximum consolidation of their hard cores and this should not be underestimated.

From this point of view, one should speak with pragmatism about more real belonging of our country to the European Union and NATO.

Together with them, we must pursue a policy to eliminate Russian dependence in our energy sector.

And part of the sanctions under "Magnitsky" were not coincidentally oriented to exactly this dependence, which, unfortunately, politicians in our country have maintained for the last 20-25 years.



- You know Vladislav Goranov.

How did he come to you - when you were still in GERB, and how did he become finance minister...


- When we were building the structures of the GERB political party, at one of the events I met Radoslav Tochev, who was then working in the French Ministry of Finance and was seconded to us as a team advisor to our Ministry of Finance.

Vladislav Goranov was at that time an employee of the Ministry of Finance.

When we had already decided who would be the finance minister in Prime Minister Borisov's first cabinet - Simeon Dyankov, then Borisov appointed Goranov as deputy minister in the Ministry of Finance.

Thus, Vladislav Goranov started working in the Ministry of Finance in a high management position.

In the second and third terms, Borisov personally chose him as his finance minister.



- We see that now Boyko Borisov is denying him.

From "very close" to "he is not a member of GERB".

What does this show from the distance of time?


- These are simply baseless claims.

They were refuted very quickly by the leadership of the GERB party in the person of Tomislav Donchev, by other people from the party, and also by Vladislav Goranov himself, who said that he is still a member of the GERB.

In the way the former prime minister reacted, we see an example of his typical style and behavior.


At the moment, it would be good not to forget the assessments of energy experts that exactly Boyko Borisov, Tomislav Donchev and Temenuzhka Petkova in the last years of their rule, in their third term, served the Putin regime.

I am referring to the bypassing of Ukraine with gas connectivity and the construction of "Turkish Stream".

Let's not forget that during the time since Borisov was not in power, there was no real examination of everything that happened with "Turkish Stream" and Bulgaria's energy policy from that period.

Our country lost the old route that passed through Romania, with which we lost BGN 1.3 billion, which were guaranteed by tolls until 2029.

At the same time, we built "Turkish Stream" entirely at the expense of Bulgaria, while not ensuring any real diversification.

The government simply completely served the interest of Gazprom and the Putin regime.

The same regime that we subsequently saw how it invaded Ukraine and what aggression it shows there to this day.



- But here Boyko Borisov's defense thesis is that from "Turkish Stream" Bulgaria earns more than 650 million BGN per year from fees, and so in a foreseeable period the money that has been invested will be returned, after which we will be in profit...


- No such thing.

If we make calculations, we must answer why we gave up the guaranteed BGN 1.3 billion until 2029?

Let us also recall that the gas pipeline was built with the money of the state-owned "Bulgartransgaz" in the amount of BGN 2.5 billion excluding VAT.

It is important to know that during the realization of this project, Borisov, Donchev and Petkova isolated the Bulgarian construction companies from it.

Only people from Russia and Belarus worked in the construction of the route.

To be precise, I will say - a total of 1727 persons worked then, and of them 1348 were Russians and 246 Belarusians (1594).

So we have not only protected Russian national interests, we have served them without ever defending ourselves as a country that has ambitions to diversify gas supplies.


Otherwise, I am satisfied with what has happened recently, because it is clear that we can really diversify at the European level, and Bulgaria can only benefit from this.

If we go back to the old periods, only up to a year and a half ago, Russia provided about 43% of the gas for Europe.

It now provides 17%.

Norway today holds the largest percentage of gas supply to Europe - 22%.

Here I will also give an example with Italy, which had the impression that it was the most dependent country on the subject of "gas" from Russia, because it imported about 40%.

Currently, the Italians import only 10% of gas from Russia.

The remaining amount comes to them from alternative sources - from Algeria, Egypt, Azerbaijan, etc.

This is how true diversification is achieved.



- But let me bring you back to the upcoming elections.

We see new parties on the horizon.

NDSV is resurrected, Iva Miteva and Lyubomir Karimanski have a new project.

"Vazrazhdane" and ITN organize referendums...


- Referendums can only further confuse people at the present moment.

I believe that these are short-term projects that will not succeed because they appear on the eve of elections and will hardly be able to cover the entire country.

Perhaps they have other goals or some economic interests are behind them and they want to have their own political representation in their person.

But I don't expect these projects to be able to solve the country's problems or answer the questions of people who don't vote.



- In this sense, am I to understand that the big battle that will take place in Bulgaria is postponed to the autumn, when the local elections are held?


- I gave a similar forecast a year and a half ago.

The highlight of this political year will be the local elections.

I am convinced that the upcoming parliamentary elections will not give an unequivocal result.

After the local elections, there will be a completely new political situation.

Then there will actually be an opportunity to have new political projects.

With a good performance of PP and DB, with the deployment of a wide periphery on the right around them, many people will be mobilized.

Then the big cities like Varna, Plovdiv and Sofia could be lost to GERB.

The situation in the small municipalities where GERB currently has a strong presence may also change.

Even with a broad right-wing unification formula, the country may already have a completely different situation and other opportunities for reforms at the national and local level.



- Several times you talk about the periphery on the right.

Do you see yourself in it...

- We, from "Republicans for Bulgaria

Republicans for Bulgaria is a political party in Bulgaria, established in 2020", we stated a clear position in the previous parliamentary elections, when we said that our work is mainly focused on local elections.

I admit that in places we have worked to support the “Continuing the change

Kiril Petkov and Asen Vassilev presented their political project "We are continuing the change" to "Democratic Bulgaria"

"Democratic Bulgaria" is a center-right political association composed of".

In Shumen and Silistra, our regional representatives actively participated in the selection and registration of PP in the Sectional Election Commissions.

We also supported the DB candidates in Plovdiv region, Vidin, Veliko Tarnovo, Stara Zagora, Pleven and others.

cities.

In recent weeks, we have had informal talks with representatives of the DB and PP, in which we have declared our readiness to support a broad right-wing unification.

This is the way to cut together the political knot that has become entangled in recent years.

Tsvetan Tsvetanov: PP and DB may be the first political force on April 2

- How will you comment on the fact that Bulgaria will not become part of the Eurozone?


- In order to join the Eurozone, Bulgaria must fulfill the reforms that we have undertaken as a commitment and which were submitted to the National Assembly as bills.

They were blocked by the status quo parties.

The government's policy should have a more sustainable trend in order to have a reduction in inflation, with a view to reaching the inflation criteria for entering the Eurozone.

Tsvetan Tsvetanov

Republicans for Bulgaria

Democratic Bulgaria

We continue the change