Bulgaria’s success lies in the fact that the political parties rallied around the national priorities and their ability to ensure continuity in the government of the country. This was the position which President Rosen Plevneliev and Blue Coalition co-leaders Ivan Kostov and Martin Dimitrov agreed on during their meeting held at 2 Dondukov street. This was the first meeting related to the current year’s initiative launched by the head of state for conducting “a month of political consultations” with the parliamentary represented parties.
“If we speak about how the people’s electricity bills could be reduced, I can say that the solution does not lie in the nationalization of the electricity distribution companies, but in the liberalization of the energy market and in developing a national program and making investments in energy efficiency.” These were President Plevneliev’s words regarding the public discontent with the high electricity bills. The Blue Coalition representatives also agreed that the investments in energy efficiency will make a real contribution not only to creating new jobs in Bulgaria, but also to cutting the electricity expenditures.
Rosen Plevneliev emphasized that the presidential institution will not only continue to focus on the public debate on determining the long-term priorities for Bulgaria’s development until 2020, but will also keep track of the achieved results. “This means that the political parties will have to reach an agreement on the national priorities, which will ensure continuity in governance and will make sure that the country will not jeopardize its strategic prospects,” the head of state said. Rosen Plevneliev once again stressed that a pact for the implementation of the EU funds should necessarily be formed and he will try to reach a consensus on it during the “month of political consultations.” According to the president, this way the capacity of the administration could be preserved as well as the good rate of implementing the EU funds. The formation of a pact of this sort will have to report the results of the implementation of the EU funds and above all those related to the new jobs created, Martin Dimitrov said.
Another topic debated at the meeting was the issue of offering favorable prospects for investments in the regions which are lagging behind in their development and for overcoming the regional disbalances. “We should bear in mind that if creating ten new jobs may not be so important for Sofia, in Lom any new job created is important,” president Plevneliev said. According to him the problem of fighting the high unemployment rate in Bulgaria should be solved precisely on a regional level. The participants in the meeting agreed on the position that the forthcoming granting of concessions to strategic sites such as Sofia Airport and the Varna-West port requires attracting strategic investors, who will guarantee the two sites’ long-term and stable management, and will serve the interests of the regions and the country.
At the meeting Ivan Kostov and Martin Dimitrov urged the President to act as a guarantor of conducting a fair general election. “The president cannot be a direct guarantor neither of conducting the election, nor of making sure that the rules are observed,” Rosen Plevneliev said and added that he expects an open debate on the Election Code in the National Assembly. He also expects that the political parties will take on the commitment to secure that this process conforms to the democratic norms and traditions. “This concerns both the principles that will be adopted and the parties’ fair attitude during the election process, so that the voice of the citizens is heard, not replaced.” Rosen Plevneliev further added.
At the meeting the Blue Coalition representatives expressed reservations about some provisions in the laws regulating the activity of the services in the security sector. In their opinion the situation created after the terror act in Burgas should be objectively assessed and should be used by Bulgaria in the best way to conduct reforms in the services in this sector. The president emphasized once again that the terror act committed in Burgas requires that the political parties rally round a nationally responsible position and do not use the act to achieve their political ends during the election campaign. “We should give the competent authorities the chance to finish their work and to bring to court the perpetrators and those who instigated this horrible act and I completely trust the competent institutions in this respect,” the head of state further added.