GERB-UDF MEPs send letter to EP and EC: Caretaker Cabinet acts as pre-election team for the President, ahead of upcoming presidential elections

MEPs from the GERB / UDF group in the EP, Andrei Kovachev, Andrei Novakov, Assim Ademov, Eva Maydell, Emil Radev and Alexander Yordanov sent a letter to their colleagues and EU commissioners stating that the caretaker government acts as a pre-election team of President Rumen Radev for the upcoming presidential elections in the autumn.

"The methods they use are the same as those used in the past by the communist police when they repressed their political opponents," they stressed.

In the letter, MEPs say the term "former people" used by caretaker Minister of Interior Boyko Rashkov was used by the communist regime to denote opponents, who were sent to forced labour camps or to death.

MEPs have expressed concern about Elena Ficherova, who has been appointed by Rashkov as head of his cabinet in the MoI, who they say is linked to gambling tycoon Vassil Bozhkov and believe there may be dependencies between Bozhkov and President Rumen Radev's caretaker cabinet.

In the letter, they also point out that after an interview with caretaker minister Rashkov on one of the TV channels, he remarked that if he was the head of the TV company he would have fired the journalists, who interviewed him.

Here is the full text of the letter:

Dear colleagues,

We would like to present to your attention some very disturbing events from Bulgaria. There is currently a caretaker government in the country, nominated by pro-Kremlin President Rumen Radev. The main goal of the caretaker government is to hold fair and transparent early parliamentary elections on July 11th. Unfortunately, instead, the caretaker government is acting as President Radev's election team for the upcoming presidential election this autumn. The methods they use, unfortunately, are the same as those used in the past by the communist police when they repressed their political opponents.

In a television interview on May 28, caretaker Minister of Interior Boyko Rashkov made several threatening remarks to his opponents and journalists:

"I hear impudent statements from former people, maybe we should bring someone to light."

"Former people" was the term used by the communist regime in Bulgaria to denote opponents of the communist dictatorship - all tsarist officers, lawyers, teachers, clergy, business owners, merchants and producers, diplomats and former politicians. The "former people" were those sent to forced labour camps or to death; sometimes including some of their family members.

On May 12, Rashkov appointed Ms. Elena Ficherova, as head of his cabinet, a person associated with Vassil Bozhkov, a gambling oligarch who is currently hiding in Dubai, after 19 charges were brought against him in Bulgaria. Mr. Bozhkov has political ambitions and will run in the upcoming parliamentary elections. Ms. Ficherova's latest appointment has raised surprises and concerns that there may be links and dependencies between the current caretaker government of President Rumen Radev and businessman-oligarch Vassil Bozhkov.

This is not the first such statement by Mr. Rashkov. In one of the first days after he was appointed as caretaker minister of Interior, he commented that "if I were the owner of the TV channel bTV, I would have fired the two journalists." The reason for this remark was that earlier in the day, during an interview in the above-mentioned television channel, Mr Rashkov had been asked the same question several times, as he had not given a direct answer to it. Mr. Rashkov began his professional career as an investigator during the communist regime in Bulgaria and is known to have used some of the methods learned earlier in his career in more recent times - conducting extremely long interrogations (over tens of hours) ; attempt to manipulate eyewitness accounts of events.

In addition, one of the government's first actions was the dismissal of the director of the State Agency for National Security, known for his successful operation to disrupt a Russian spy network in the country. In any democracy, the participants in such an operation will be honoured for their contribution to the protection of national and European security. Today in Bulgaria they are fired.

Needless to say, such comments and an overall attitude have no place in our time and age, especially by the Minister of the Interior. This is militia rhetoric, which was permanently rooted in the minds of the Ministry of Interior and State Security officers before 1989. The re-emergence of such rhetoric is scandalous - it not only sounds like a threat to return to one of the darkest periods in the history of Bulgaria; it is also an extremely painful reminder to the families of all those who were victims of the communist regime of the injustices and crimes they committed. President Radev's caretaker government has used some of the communist regime's most feared techniques - spreading lies, misinformation and threats - to scare its opponents.

We will continue to monitor the situation and inform you duly.

We remain at your disposal for additional information.

The Bulgarian delegation of EPP GERB / ​​UDF

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