NEWS

President Rosen Plevneliev: The use of chemical weapons is inadmissible and the international community must react

“The use of chemical weapons is inadmissible, it is an inhuman act and a crime against humanity, and the international community has an obligation to respond”, stated today before journalists in Shabla President Rossen Plevneliev in a response to a question about the situation in Syria. “Bulgaria will act according to its obligations in the North Atlantic alliance and the European Union“, confirmed the Head of State.

Rosen Plevneliev welcomed the idea of the Prime Minister and the respective ministers for convening the Security Council at the Cabinet in connection with the situation in Syria. “This is the right decision and we expect to see the data that the executive power disposes of, as well as whether a refugee flow is expected towards Bulgaria” said the President. At the Council meeting the presidential institution will be represented by its Chief Secretary Rosen Kozhuharov, said also President Plevneliev.

The Head of State commented that as of now he has no information that any demands have been made to Bulgaria by its partners and added that the situation is quite dynamic.

“I will convene the Consultative Council for National Security at a later stage, since agreement has been reached with the political parties represented in Parliament that the topic that is to be discussed is the reform in the “Security” sector, said Rossen Plevneliev. The Head of State announced that he was following closely the situation and if a demand was expressed for Bulgaria to take a more active role in any operation, he was ready to react swiftly and to convene the Consultative Council for National Security. Such a necessity has not arisen until now, is the opinion of the President.

 “I hope that the Government will provide a public report for its achievements for the first hundred days of its term of office, so that not the President but the public can give assessment of what is happening in Bulgaria”, commented the Head of State in a response to a question. He underlined that the facts unambiguously show that the Cabinet is working in a very difficult and dynamic environment of constant protests, of very little trust in all political leaders and institutions on the part of the citizens. “The economic crisis in Europe is in its fifth year, which means that the Government is functioning in a very hard economic situation. At the same time, the confidence in institutions is very low and unfortunately results in the fact that some important reforms, as well as reaching of consensus on key priorities for the country have not yet materialized”, said also Rosen Plevneliev.

The Head of State made an appeal to the political leaders to reach a consensus in relation to the spending of the European Funds for the period 2014 – 2020, as well as to the partnership agreement with the European Commission, so that legitimacy and continuity in the management of the EU funds until 2020 be achieved. “We have to reach a consensus also in solving the political crisis which the nation is in right now”, stressed Rosen Plevneliev.

The President appealed to the political parties represented in Parliament to reach a consensus and to unite around a common declaration on the national priorities. “We cannot be in the midst of such a hard economic, political and demographic situation and at the same time be divided and separated about everything“, said the Head of State. Rossen Plevneliev again underscored that he is willing to support a debate on issues important for the public such as the market economy, freedom of the media and the judicial system.   

The President also expressed his concern of the divergent messages by representatives of the executive power in relation to Operational Programme “Regional Development” and Operational Programme “Transport”. “Bulgaria must expressly state its priorities in the “Transport” sector and especially in the building of roads. I think that there is a serious danger of delay in the building of the “Hemus” motorway if new options are considered from now on”, stated President Plevneliev.

At the anti-aircraft range in Shabla the Head of State attended the joint drill “Shabla” 2013 with real action troops and the exercise of experimental and combat shooting with use of aviation to mark air enemy. “We witnessed a very successful army drill. All targets were hit and I am extremely impressed by the swiftness and the precision that we saw”, commented the President, who expressed gratitude to the members of the armed forces from Bulgaria and Serbia for their high professionalism and the successfully completed tasks.