Kristian Vigenin: The BSP must keep its face in government and carry out internal reforms

„It is important for the BSP to stand on firm ground, it needs a stable leadership. I believe, however, that it is a mistake to abolish the direct election of the chair, and the congress delegates will take the final decision.“ This was stated by the Deputy Chair of the BSP and candidate for chair of the party Kristian Vigenin on Nova News. He explained that direct election has shown defects over time, for example there is no full clarity about the composition of the party, but that it is a democratic procedure and gives rank and file members the possibility to choose. Removing the limit on the number of terms in certain positions would have a bad public resonance, in Kristian Vigenin’s view, because it could be interpreted as a step backwards and as closing the party off.

„I have very well structured ideas for changing the BSP, and I am the only one who has proposed a written programme for the party’s development. During my meetings with socialists around the country I see that my proposals are being received well“, Kristian Vigenin pointed out. He outlined two main challenges facing the BSP, keeping its face while taking part in government, and carrying out internal reforms so that it stabilises and has the resources to press its policies.

On this year’s budget, the Deputy Chair of the BSP believes that the throwing of numbers at one another and the confused messages must end: „I expect to see an active social policy in the budget, one that does not lead to reduced social spending and does not stop the growth of pensions. It is necessary to think about how to raise revenue, not how to cut spending. We proposed raising concession fees and taxing the excess profits of the banks, these are realistic steps for increasing revenue.“ Kristian Vigenin emphasised that the socialists’ attitude to the government will be shaped by the character of the budget and of the governing programme. „In the governing programme we expect to see our left priorities. If we see that we cannot implement at least part of our policies, we have no place in the government, because it is not a priority for the BSP that some people should simply acquire posts“, the candidate for chair of the party pointed out.

Kristian Vigenin described the socialists’ proposal to freeze the mark-up on products as a flexible and sensible solution: „Freezing prices leads to losses for producers and to shortages, and the proposal is to freeze the trade mark-up, which guarantees that there will be no profiteering. This concerns 70 products from the small consumer basket, and it is a way of guaranteeing that the most vulnerable will not suffer from speculative price rises.“ In his view there should be no retreat from the promised increase in wages in the interior ministry and defence, because the state has made a commitment to these people. If the forthcoming eurozone membership is used as a reason not to increase the wages of these professional communities, they will be turned against joining the common currency union, Vigenin warned.

The Deputy Chair of the BSP said the socialists will have their own proposals for filling the regulatory bodies. He believes, however, that this should not be done on a party and quota basis but with full transparency and according to the professional qualities of the candidates, because if the regulators work well that is good for the country too.

„The continuation of military aid for Ukraine is a problem for the BSP, because it encourages the conflict. We are not against humanitarian aid. There are visible efforts to end the war, let us be among the first to encourage peace, all the more so as Bulgarians traditionally have friendly relations with both sides“, Kristian Vigenin commented on another important topic.