2021 presidential election debate: Radev - Gerdzhikov

Bulgarian National Television on Thursday, November 18, broadcast the only debate between Bulgaria's presidential candidates, Rumen Radev (incumbent President running for second term) and Anastas Gerdzhikov (rector of Sofia University) ahead of the second round of elections scheduled for Sunday.

The public service broadcaster is the only media in which Radev and Gerdzhikov debated for the first time and live before the election of Bulgarian citizens on Sunday.

HERE ARE SOME OF THE MAIN HIGHLIGHTS:

I expect to exchange views with Prof. Gerdzhikov on how Bulgaria should move forward from now on, said Radev.

I am running for this post, not because I need it but because I see the country in crisis, divided and I think it can unite, Gerdjikov said.

BULGARIA TODAY

From the very first consultations, I urge the parties to find a way to dialogue, we must have a regular government. The cost at which it can be achieved must be carefully weighed. The government should be formed around a clear vision of how to get out of the crisis, Radev said.

I believe that there will be a government and throughout the campaign I repeated that the most urgent thing for Bulgaria is to have a government and a regular cabinet, said Gerdzhikov.

Radev commented that it should start with groups on key sectoral policies, and not look for common ground when specific names are spoken. In the beginning, there was resistance to the dialogue after the elections for the 45th and 46th National Assembly. A compromise must be sought, Radev urged.

The president is not an architect of coalitions, the president creates conditions for this debate to proceed in the best way, he added.

The advice Gerdzhikov would give to the mandate holder and the four negotiating parties is to find common ground, not to look for dividing lines. The previous two attempts have not been exhausted. The president's job is to find common ground in the parties if they seek division, he told Radev.

Rumen Radev said that he was not involved in political engineering, he invited Kiril Petkov and Assen Vassilev (former caretaker ministers and co-leaders of “We Continue the Change” party, which won the largest share of votes in the November 14 early parliamentary elections) to participate in the caretaker cabinet and they were very good ministers and revealed a number of vicious schemes of the previous government. He explained that it was their right to lead a political project. If I decide to form a party, I will stand in front.

Regarding the profile for president, indicated by the MRF, Gerdzhikov commented: What I heard is that the presidential candidate should be a unifier of the nation, a face of the state and a face of the country to the world. Gerdzhikov asked Radev if he recognized himself in this profile.

The MRF leadership has been demanding my resignation for a long time - Bulgarians remember why, I will not list the reasons here. The president is not politically neutral, he is obliged to have an opinion, a political assessment, Radev commented.

Anastas Gerdzhikov said that in the first round of the presidential elections he received 80 percent of the votes of the GERB party and about 10 percent of the other parties. Explain the results of the first round with the fact that many parties have nominated presidential candidates and each has voted for their party. Now there are only two candidates for the runoff, and it seems to me that people can easily find out what kind of president they are looking for, with what qualities and what vision.

When you talk about the prosecutor's office - yesterday there was a police at Sofia University who asked if there were any people who sold and bought votes, and today they came directly from the General Directorate of the National Police for inspection and asked to hand things by tomorrow. That already seems too much to me," Gerdzhikov said.

Only people who rely on vote buying can condemn the actions of caretaker Minister of Interior Boyko Rashkov. People massively approve his actions, Radev replied.

NEW CONSTITUTION

"There is a need to expand civil rights, access to constitutional justice, to expand the opportunity for citizens to participate in legislation. I cannot afford to submit a draft to an unstable parliament," Radev said.

According to Gerdzhikov, it is frightening to talk about a new constitution and it is worrying that Radev has not presented his draft so far. According to him, if necessary, the president can initiate a draft of a new constitution.

PROSECUTOR'S OFFICE

The main problem of the prosecutor's office is that there is no independent institution to investigate the chief prosecutor, he is practically irremovable, Rumen Radev emphasized.

The main reason to change the Constitution is the rule of law - to change the judicial reform, said Anastas Gerdzhikov. According to him, there is a personalisation of the problems with the prosecution.

REPUBLIC OF NORTH MACEDONIA

According to Gerdzhikov, a different approach with Republic of North Macedonia is needed. The only thing the Bulgarian state wants is to respect the Treaty of Good Neighbourliness, to stop hate speech and to respect the rights of Bulgarians there and to improve transport connectivity.

Before we receive clear and irreversible guarantees, I guarantee that Bulgaria cannot say "Yes" to the membership of the Republic of North Macedonia in the European Union, before stopping the violation of the rights of Bulgarian citizens in the Republic of North Macedonia, before stopping the destruction of Bulgarian cultural heritage and eradicating the language of hatred

COVID-19

They both confirmed that they had been vaccinated against coronavirus.

Gerdzhikov said it was enough to look at the number of deaths and visit hospitals to see that we were not out of the crisis. He asked why the green certificate was introduced as a way to force people to get vaccinated. He also said that the past 6 months have been missed to control the pandemic

Radev asked what the alternative to the green certificate is. What is a problem is the delay in vaccination. The number of deaths from COVID-19 is directly proportional to those not vaccinated, Radev said. The money for the medical staff has been increased, there are medicines, free-of-charge medicines are being distributed for the first time, oxygen has been provided, Radev said.

Gerdzhikov said, he did not agree with rosy picture Radev described. He said that front line medics should be encouraged.

The doctors are extremely busy, but we did not leave people without access to medical care, Radev replied. The green certificate is not pleasant, but the alternative is lockdown.

THE COST OF LIVING

Gerdzhikov said Bulgarian business was on the verge of collapse. The energy and gas curve started in January and by September it has increased two or three times. If the recovery and resilience plan had not been delayed, we could have got the money we needed.

Radev opposes that the whole of Europe is facing collapse. He called not to speculate on inflation, Bulgaria is no exception. It is caused by the rising price of fuel and electricity.

The business has not received compensation, and non-household consumers have not yet felt the increase in the price of electricity, but have already felt the rise in prices of food and other services, Gerdzhikov said.

What the government has done is the largest compensation in Europe - BGN 110 for small businesses, up to BGN 140. Other countries reduce VAT by10% . More than 250,000 families have been compensated, Radev emphasised. No country in the EU has stopped its electricity exports, there is a surplus of electricity in Bulgaria, the problem is that all small consumers have been thrown into the whirlwind of the open market, Rumen Radev added.

FOREIGN POLICY

• Russia

Russia cannot be our enemy, the Bulgarians see it as a liberator. Drowning politicians are resorting to Russia. The most important thing is to look for dialogue. The EU-Russia dialogue is in critical condition. President Biden has started a dialogue with Putin through the head of the EU, Radev commented.

I am pleasantly surprised at how close our positions have become to Mr Radev with regard to Russia - we should by no means be divided into Russophiles and Russophobes. We have an interest in working with Russia as we would have an interest in working with any country with such an economy.

Crimea is Ukrainian. "It doesn't matter what flag is flying over it, because every time a country annexes a territory, it hoists its flag on it," Gerdzhikov said.

If a majority is formed in the EU, which considers that the problems with Russia are resolved, Bulgaria must also support the lifting of sanctions. We must protect freedom and European values, Gerdzhikov said.

It is important to have pragmatism in foreign policy, sanctions do not work, we do not change behaviour, so the Council of the EU is looking for pragmatic approaches to solve these problems. Germany has huge investments in Russia, these things are done with a pragmatic policy. Russia is an important factor in security and the fight against terrorism, Radev said. When asked by Gerdzhikov, Radev said that Crimea is Russian.

• The Magnitsky Act

Corruption must end because it hinders the economy, hinders foreign investment and undermines the sense of justice of Bulgarian citizens, Gerdzhikov urged. All the data that came on "Magnitsky" is a disgrace to us. We should establish the rule of law ourselves and solve our problems with corruption, Gerdzhikov added.

I welcome the US decision to implement the Magnitsky Act. This was a decisive act in support of Bulgarian democracy, because we have many resolutions, analyzes, adopted declarations, but there is no practical effect. The actions under the Magnitsky act were a strong practical act and will have long-term consequences, Radev said.

• Migrant pressure

Bulgaria is a country on the first line, as such we cannot accept refugees. We have enough here, the first aid countries should be provided with comprehensive assistance, because our border is external to the EU, Radev commented.

We cannot but accept any refugees because they are in need. However, they are accompanied by migrants who have nothing to do with refugees, and human trafficking is often involved, Gerdzhikov said.

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