Prime Minister Borissov: "Bulgaria Has Emerged as One of Most Loyal and Disciplined Members of EU and NATO"

Sofia, July 23 (BTA) - Prime Minister Boyko Borissov on Thursday opened the Foreign Minister's annual meeting with Bulgarian ambassadors abroad. The meeting is taking place at Sofia's Boyana Residence until Friday.

Federica Mogherini, the EU's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission, is a special guest at the meeting.

Borissov said Bulgaria has emerged as one of the most loyal and disciplined members of the EU and NATO and a factor for stability in Southeastern Europe.

He said that, given the diverse national parliament and the complicated international situation, it is important that Bulgaria serve as a factor for regional stability and compromise. "We know how difficult it has been to put together a government in neighbouring Turkey. We also know that out there across the Black Sea are Crimea and Russia, and that there are quite a few problems in Macedonia and in Bosnia and Herzegovina, to say nothing of Greece, where the EU has been engaged for years and I am still unsure whether the right solution has been found," the Prime Minister said.

"I gave my reasons to the European Commission and the National Assembly about why I do not want us to be the only obstacle keeping our brothers, the Greek people, from receiving money under the bailout plan," Borissov said.

He noted that by strictly observing the sanctions against Russia, Bulgaria has suffered huge losses in tourism and in the food industry and many companies have had to shut down. Borissov said: "Respecting the common will and policy of the EU, Bulgaria dropped huge energy projects with Russia. Concerning the Bourgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline, our reason was that it would endanger our tourist industry. We assumed that an expensive nuclear power plant at Belene would create a problem and was an inefficient project for us, but on the other hand, those reactors [from Belene] went to our NATO neighbour Turkey. It is difficult to explain to our constituents why those reactors are bad for us, but not for Turkey."

Borissov went on to say: "The same applies to the South Stream gas pipeline. It obviously presents a problem for us, but not for Greece and Turkey. Bulgaria, being disciplined, has found itself confronting Russia head-on. It was not a coincidence that Russian President Vladimir Putin said from Turkey that Bulgaria will lose everything. Russia is not pressuring Greece or Turkey, it is pressuring only Bulgaria."

Discussing Bulgaria's finances, the Prime Minister said that at some point the government deficit reached 3.8 per cent of GDP, but the executive and judicial branches of government took measures, enhancing border controls and curbing smuggling, which enabled the government to collect 2.3 billion leva more in public revenues than a year earlier. Subsequently, the government gave an additional 100 million leva to retired people and 107 million leva to tobacco growers, most of whom are Bulgarian Muslims that have difficulty integrating, Borissov said. Money was also given for municipal infrastructure. "We brought the government deficit below the 3 per cent mark and we are once again complying with the Maastricht criteria for financial discipline," he said.

The EU aid absorption rate in Bulgaria has been raised from under one per cent to 87-88 per cent and will be raised further to 94 per cent by the end of this year, Borissov said.

The pension and health care reforms have advanced quite far, and it is hoped that the judicial reform will also advance when the Presiding Body of the National Assembly meets later on Thursday, Borissov said.

He recalled that the National Assembly adopted a Judicial Reform Strategy by a large majority, and then a group of MPs proposed amendments to the Constitution. On some of these amendments, the parties differ very widely. "After all our efforts, we the incumbents can count on about 130 votes [in the 240-seat National Assembly], but to amend the Constitution it is necessary to get 160 votes. This required consultations with the opposition," Borissov said.

He thanked Patriotic Front leader Valeri Simeonov for supporting the judicial reform, adding that the Bulgarian Democratic Centre has also confirmed its support. "Likewise, the Movement for Rights and Freedoms changed their mind and gave up some of their fundamental views. We are now in the process of uniting around something we have been wanting to do for 25 years, and this is also something that the European Commission wants," he said.

"Our proposal, for which we can secure 180 votes, is to divide the Supreme Judicial Council [SJC] in two, with no one standing on top, which will allow judges to elect judges and prosecutors and investigators to elect their own leaders. The reduction of the political quota in SJC is an enormous step forward regarding the career development of the two judicial communities [i.e. judges and prosecutors], which will now become accountable to Europe and our society," he said.

According to Borissov, it has been proposed that in the future judges' college in SJC, 8 members should be elected by the judges and 5 members by the National Assembly. There is a controversy about the appropriate ratio for prosecutors: whether there should be 6 prosecutors elected by SJC and 5 by the National Assembly, or whether they should be 6 to 6, in order to guarantee judicial independence, he said. "We will ask the Constitutional Court about that," he added.

"We have also proposed increasing the role of the judicial inspectorate," the Prime Minister said.

"We can actually get 190 votes in favour of the reforms and adopt the changes in two months after approaching the Constitutional Court. The problem is how to articulate this publicly - everyone wants to lead the way, except me," Borissov said.

He believes that the reforms will give guarantees to the European Commission and to investors, bringing enormous benefits for Bulgaria. "The amendments to the Constitution would be a good sign that there is a political class which puts the interests of the nation above its own interests," the Prime Minister said.

"You may get confused by the media about the proposed reforms, because there are groups which exert influence on them," Borissov said, giving the reason for his long explanations. "It remains to be discussed whether the election of magistrates should be done by open voting or secret voting, and to consider who can be entitled to petition the Constitutional Court," he added.