BULGARIAN PM BORISSOV DISMISSES CALLS TO RESIGN

Bulgaria’s Prime Minister Borissov said on 6th of October that he saw no logic in the calls for his resignation over the failure in the vote for the next UN Secretary General, because on this basis “all prime ministers except that of Portugal should resign in the wake of the UN vote”.

Bulgaria’s official candidate Kristalina Georgieva joined the race for UN Secretary-General at a later stage, after the government nominated her on 26th of September. Borissov’s government withdrew its support from UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova, whom it had nominated as its candidate in February, after Bokova ranked 6th in the first five straw polls.

The outcome of the final straw poll led to calls for resignation from the opposition parties ABV and the Bulgarian Socialist Party.

Earlier today, the centre-left Bulgarian Socialist Party demanded the resignation of PM Borissov and the Bulgarian government and the withdrawal of Kristalina Georgieva from the European Commission. The leader of BSP, Kornelia Ninova, said that the voting for UN Secretary-General showed that the only Bulgarian candidate with a chance at the post was Irina Bokova. Ninova noted that according to the latest ranking on the website of the UN, Bokova was placed second and Georgieva was placed 9th.

Boyko Borissov and the Bulgarian government betrayed the national interests in order to serve foreign interests, Ninova said.

By nominating Georgieva Borissov and the Bulgarian government discredited Irina Bokova on purpose and deprived Bulgaria of the chance to have its own representative at the helm of the UN. Ninova added that this had been done under outside pressure and that all explanations that Georgieva had better chances were a lie.

Ninova said that from now on the no-confidence vote will top BSP's agenda. She said that the BSP were ready to discuss a vote of no-confidence over the overall government's policy as the Movement for Rights and Freedoms and ABV had proposed. According to her, there is enough time for a vote of no-confidence to take place before Parliament's recess for the presidential elections.

ABV leader Georgi Parvanov demanded that Kristalina Georgieva be recalled from the European Commission and Prime Minister Boyko Borissov should take on the political responsibility and resign.

He said Georgieva's ranking was humiliating for the Bulgarian nation. "Bokova has established herself as brilliant diplomat and world leader," said Parvanov.

Without the "Georgieva factor", Bokova could have been elected as UN chief, said Parvanov. According to him, Georgieva is not the candidate of Bulgaria, but of Prime Minister Borissov.

Prime Minister Boyko Borissov said he wouldn't tender his resignation, dismissing calls by the opposition.

Borissov said: "We knew that Mrs Bokova will be vetoed and tried with a second nominee. However, Mrs Bokova showed arrogance and refused to withdraw from the race, thus blocking Mrs Georgieva. And in practice something that was predetermined - that both will be vetoed - happened. It happened so because of the standoff between the US and Russia this week passed all limits”, Prime Minister Boyko Borissov said.

In an interview for BNT, Foreign Minister Daniel Mitov said that the performance of Kristalina Georgieva in the race for UN Secrtary-General was not a reason for calls for his resignation. Mrs Bokova had no chance of being selected, so the government had nominated Georgieva. Mitov also said that there was no external pressure on our country for this nomination.

source: BTA

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