Vigenin: Clear action and concrete answers are needed in the case of the arrest of the mayor of Varna

“The more categorical and clear the evidence and the actions of the institutions are, the sooner we get concrete answers, the sooner society will close the page on the protests and the discontent over the arrest of the mayor of Varna. The political pressure currently being put on the prosecution and on the court also needs to be reduced.” This was stated by MEP and member of the BSP Executive Bureau Kristian Vigenin on the bTV programme “This Saturday”. In his view it is important that the rights of every citizen be respected, regardless of their position or party affiliation. Vigenin is of the view that the politicisation of the case, or doubts about the objectivity of the actions of the institutions, should not be allowed.

“We should not think that someone from outside will tell us what to do. We respect our European partners and their engagement, but they still should not interfere in our domestic politics, especially when it comes to our administration of justice. Ambassadors have no place at the protests, but we also have to take in what they are telling us by being there. We have to be aware that this question is not only our internal matter, it is being watched from outside as well,” he also commented.

The rule-of-law report and early elections

The MEP described the annual European Commission rule of law report for 2025 as objective, not devastating as some commentators called it: “This report is not the result of the actions of this government, it is the result of the unstable political processes and the clumsy changes to the Constitution proposed by We Continue the Change. They did not guarantee the rule of law and an independent judiciary, they achieved exactly the opposite, because they confused the relationships, especially within the judiciary.” Vigenin also noted the noticeably higher share of public tenders in our country with a single bidder, compared with the average level for the European Union, which is also a sign of suspected corruption and lack of transparency.

The MEP sees neither the need nor the point of further early elections: “They will not give a different picture or distribution of forces. We have many questions to resolve at this stage, we need to stabilise the state. It is not useful to speculate about parliamentary elections before the middle of next year, but let us not forget that presidential elections are also coming. A government makes sense as long as it has parliamentary support.”

“If we look at the results of the government, in the portfolios of the BSP ministers there is serious progress, they saved hundreds of millions of leva under the Recovery and Resilience Plan, quite a few systems were put in order. In the end, though, voters will weigh both what was achieved and the compromises that were made. As of today it looks as if we are standing firm, but we have to think carefully about the compromises we make,” Kristian Vigenin also commented.