SPEECHES AND STATEMENTS

Statement made by President Rosen Plevneliev and the appointed Prime Minister of the caretaker cabinet Marin Raykov

Rosen Plevneliev:

From tomorrow onwards Bulgaria will be governed by a caretaker government for the third time in its democratic history. It is precisely at difficult times that caretaker governments have brought peace to the nation and set the right direction for recovering from the crisis. I do believe that now the situation will be the same.

The social crisis, based on low incomes and high unemployment, escalated into a political crisis as the government resigned and a parliamentary crisis as the 41^st National Assembly failed to form a government and continue functioning. I sought support to no avail within the National Assembly and the government. I held four rounds of consultations after the government’s resignation and convened an extraordinary meeting of the Consultative Council for National Security, which showed that the people have lost their trust in the current National Assembly. The last possible option was to call an early general election.

As president I strictly abide by the Constitution and observe the deadlines it sets. I appoint a caretaker government to take office as of tomorrow and adjourn the National Assembly on 15 March and call a general election on 12 May. I fixed this date to avoid burdening the holy Christian holidays Palm Sunday and Easter with political emotions.

The formation of a caretaker government was my own responsibility. I have not allowed anyone to pressure me and have not been guided by party affiliations in my choice. I believe that the prime minister of Bulgaria’s caretaker government should be a good diplomat who knows how to listen and be heard. He should be moderate, reasonable, competent. He should well know the situation in Bulgaria, in the region and around the world. He should defend the Bulgarian interests in Brussels in these critical months, when tens of billions in aid for this country will be decided and important integration processes in Europe will take place.  

I have chosen Bulgaria’s ambassador to Paris Marin Raykov to be Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs. I have designated as deputy Prime Ministers three hard-working, competent and capable young women, who have proved their high morale and responsibility, as have all Bulgarian women whom the people have always relied on in times of hardship. One of the deputy Prime Ministers will be in charge of the economic development, the second in charge of social policies, the third – in charge of EU fund management. For the first time in the Interior Ministry’s history, a woman will be minister. She is a general with a long experience in the system. I first considered appointing Vlado Penev as Interior Minister, given that he plays the role of the good cop in the “Under Cover” TV series. However, I believe that he will do better in the Culture Ministry. The Finance Minister I appoint is not only a good financier, but also an excellent macroeconomist.

While choosing the ministers I adhered to the following principles.  Each one of them should be, and is, a self-made outstanding expert in their sphere, who has started his career from the lowest post and alone reached the higher posts, built up their reputation and made a name of a successful person. This was very important to me.   Each one of them started their career as a private soldier, an engineer, a teacher, a medical doctor and has proved their qualities. All of them are experts in their spheres and they know well how the institutions function and have proved their party non-affiliation. Nobody has been an agent of the communist-era State Security. Among them are distinguished scholars from the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, from Military Academy, from the Thracian university. Thus we can mobilize the nation's scientific potential in 2013 - the year of the strategic planning for 2020.

I will appoint a special Minister for the Electronic Government whose basic task will be to coordinate the actions of all state authorities and draft an integrated national plan for the Electronic Government. The goal is to avoid piecemeal work. The goal is to spare the people and the businesses the need to queue in front of desks. The goal is to improve the business environment and achieve tangible results in curbing corruption.

The caretaker cabinet will work to restore public trust in the institutions and secure greater transparency and civil control. The caretaker government will be a guarantor of free and democratic elections. Therefore a Civil Board for Fair Elections will be established at the Prime Minister's Office. The caretaker government will assume responsibility toward the civil society and will formulate the important policies in a dialogue with it. The caretaker government will serve the people, not the political elite. It will prepare the general election but will not run for political posts. It will pursue policies but not use them to its own political ends. The caretaker government will direct its efforts towards securing transparency and efficiency of the regulatory bodies to curb the harmful impact of the monopolies.

The State Water and Energy Regulatory Agency should be transformed from a non-transparent into an effective regulator. A full audit and inspection of the entire chain of electricity pricing must be conducted. Its results should be made public. I hope the contracts will also be made public so that the numbers are shown.  The basic problems to be solved in the energy sector are the total lack of transparency and the low energy efficiency. Electricity prices should be fair and market-oriented, not monopoly prices.

The caretaker government will implement important social and economic measures which will serve the public interests and the economy. Retirement pensions will be increased as of 1 April, as planned. The government will work to avoid a vacuum in the absorption of the funds negotiated with the EU and will take adequate measures with regard to the planning and negotiating of the EU funds for Bulgaria until 2020.

The caretaker government must put maximum efforts into continuing the reforms, preserving peace and stability in the country, and taking the necessary steps to improve the lives and living standards of the Bulgarian people. It should organize well the upcoming general election. It will take such steps in a direct dialogue with the citizens, so that it meets public expectations and demands. I guarantee that the people's voice will be heard.

The caretaker government will request that the Commission for the Protection of  Competition identifies the monopolies and the sectors in which there are monopolies - energy, healthcare, transport, media and others. It will prepare the anti-trust legislation in the energy sector and provide options for the consumers to freely choose their electricity supplier. The caretaker government will draft legislative amendments to secure a strong and independent regulator, elected by the National Assembly, not appointed by the government. It will promptly start working with the public councils, as I promised. The first topics to be debated may be energy, ecology and social policy.

At a time of transition from one government to another, the state administration always becomes less active. The caretaker government must not allow this to happen. Many worthy people work in the state administration. We should allow them to continue working in a calm and efficient manner. Let us show understanding and provide support to the small and medium-sized enterprises. To this effect a special deputy economy minister will be appointed, who will be in charge of the small and medium-sized enterprises at the Ministry of Economy, Energy and Tourism. The caretaker government should find an opportunity, within the budget framework, to settle the state debt payable to the small and medium-sized enterprises.

We will act without emotions, pragmatically. We have the chance to do a lot of reasonable work. The priorities and tasks the government is facing are clear. A social and political crisis has arisen and we should not allow it to escalate into an economic one. We should not make the investors leave this country, because it is they, not the state that create jobs. Let us leave the businesses work calmly. Let the administration continue fulfilling its commitments with responsibility.

Although our main problem is the low incomes, poverty is not a diagnosis. To be able to fight poverty, new jobs should be created. This can be achieved by creating a good business environment, providing for good education and securing investments. The road to establishing a socially responsible and fair state is a long process. It passes through economic and social reforms, which require commitment and consensus. I would like the political parties to be honest and assume clear commitments to address the problems people regard as the most important ones. This would help a great deal in the current situation. A general election is forthcoming. The politicians will engage in election fights and will do their best to win a victory. However, I should recall that the most important victory now is that of the ordinary person.

Some people will level a lot of criticism. Even more people will lose faith and display a negative attitude. However, the caretaker government must fulfill its mission to ensure a worthy and democratic transition to a new, democratically elected government, which would be elected by the people, and a National Assembly that will start functioning from the very first day to promote the interests of the nation.

Since I assume that different well-wishers will seek the negative aspects everywhere, and try to tell us what we do not know and what we are not. It should be crystal clear to everyone that the big division today is between those who promote Bulgaria's interests and those who serve their own interests. I am sure that all ministers in the caretaker government stand for the European choice of this country. These ministers will serve a short term in office. They will most probably not serve a four-year term in office. Let us give them the chance to do their job first before judging them.

There is no alternative to Bulgaria's European future and modernization. However, the only way we can achieve this is by working together. What I wish is that common sense and competence will prevail. Let us prove we are worthy Europeans and that we are a nation that has a mission and vision for its own future.

Thank you.

Esteemed Mr Prime Minister, I give you the floor.

Marin Raykov:

Thank you, Mr President,

Dear Compatriots,

In the last month, many Bulgarians took to the streets of our cities to show in a clear and irrefutable manner their outrage from the social hardships they suffer. We are witnessing a demonstration of national dignity and of the anger over the state institutions’ failure to protect the citizens from the abuse of monopolies.

In order to secure stability and pave the way for the people, Boyko Borisov’s government tendered its resignation. In fulfilling his constitutional rights, the President offered the first three parties in parliament in turn to form a government, but they declined the mandate.

After the 41^st  National Assembly was adjourned, the head of state resorted to the appointment of a caretaker government and entrusted me to head this government.  The government’s task is clearly prescribed in the country’s Constitution. This means that the government will not debate constitutional amendments nor propose draft bills or pass election codes, etc. This government will not work on its own budget or develop a long-term program for the country’s governance. It will rather set the direction of the development in a number of key spheres. It will thus outline the way to get out of the current situation.

Which are the tasks that we are called upon to fulfill? Above all we should organize the conduct of democratic elections in compliance with the effective legislation to meet the expectations of the Bulgarian people, which have the right to express their will in a free, democratic and transparent manner.

The protesters voiced serious reproach against the political parties in the country. This government has no party affiliations. It is here to offer guarantees that the vote will be held according to the rules. The elections will not be rigged and forged. The nation is the sovereign and its voice will be heard.

Bulgarians took to the streets, voiced their opinion and these elections proved that they changed the political agenda of the country. Anyone who dares to behave arrogantly with the protesters will be punished by the public vote. However, the Bulgarian voters are not thousands but millions and must be heard. We heard the protesters’ voice, now let us give the floor to the silent majority of the Bulgarian people. Let us all fulfill our duties and go to the polls as the democratic principles, morals, our patriotic duty and our EU membership require us to do.

The government’s second task is to secure stability and continuity in the functioning of the State institutions in order to guarantee the safety of the Bulgarian citizens, public order and economic progress. An integral part of this task is to take specific measures in the social sphere, for the fulfillment of which conditions have been created by the laws passed by parliament in the past days.

By strictly adhering to the set budget framework, the government would take specific measures to increase incomes and improve the situation of the Bulgarian pensioners and the most underprivileged strata of the Bulgarian population.

We will support the social orientation of the market economy in Bulgaria and create conditions for growth and recovery from the crisis.

Dear ladies and gentlemen, the caretaker government is called upon to reassure our European partners and allies that Bulgaria will continue to fulfill all its commitments as a member of the EU and NATO. We will put all effort into implementing the 2014-2020 financial framework in order to ensure that within this period all projects in the Bulgarian economy be realized and thus the respective resources from the European funds be absorbed.

The positive trends in Bulgaria’s economic development will not be halted. Bulgaria will follow the course it took 25 years ago without going back to the geopolitical orbit it used to be in before the democratic changes. Bulgaria will not compromise with democratic values, human rights, the principles that make us an integral part of the European economic space and with the commitments that the Bulgarian nation as part of the free world has taken.

We would not pursue policies that undermine fiscal discipline and the currency board, which will be effective until our country joins the Eurozone.  We will not allow embarking on economic adventures such as a nationalization that serves political and other interests. We will offer resistance to any attempt to plunge the country into chaos. No matter what internal or external pressure Bulgaria may be subject to, it will never renounce its sovereign right to decide which energy projects meet Bulgaria’s interests. We will do our best to protect Bulgaria’s national interests and I do believe that our European partners and allies will stand by us at this moment.

Thank you.