PRIME MINISTER ORESHARSKI - AT THE END OF THE TERM OF OFFICE

The political instability perceived from the outset of the term of office went on for a rather long time, said Prime Minister Oresharski in an exclusive interview for the BNT programme ‘More from the Day’ on 9th of July and added it is good that there is a specific date for early elections. Oresharski expressed hope the elections would lead to a more stable structure of the Parliament, different from ruling and opposition parties having almost equal number of votes.

When asked if he already had a slogan for the period of his governance, Oresharski replied that he did not like giving such qualifications. According to him, the one year life of the government (2013 – 2014) can be best described as: ‘’A difficult period after a difficult period.” At the question if it could be described as ‘governance under pressure’, in conditions of protests, the Prime Minister said “It could be said so.’’

Prime Minister Oresharski explained he did not see reasons for update of the budget neither of the National Health Insurance Fund, nor of the state budget.

“I do not see reasons, because I look at figures. Most people speak without looking at figures“, he explained. According to him, as at the end of May 2014, the deficit of the NHIF was not higher than the deficit at the same time last year. “I am convinced the NHIF can cope with the situation without additional assistance. There may be concerns about the absence of National Assembly, but they do not result from the figures”, Oresharski noted and added that he heard estimates that the deficit would become 300 million BGN. He expressed his surprise at what would possibly make the deficit grow progressively by the end of the year provided that for the first five months it was 70 million BGN.

“It is very easy to plead for additional money to be given to the NHIF, but very little was explained about where these funds would be taken from.” According to Oresharski, the funds can only be taken from other items of the budget.

As regards possible budget update because of the panic stirred to the banking system, the Prime Minister explained that it was important to clarify what ‘update’ was. He said it was likely the state to support the Bulgarian National Bank in the efforts to support the Cooperative Commercial Bank (CCB) in terms of liquidity and capital. But he also said he would not make further comments as he needed to see the BNB report on the position of the CCB. Oresharski said that support from the state was very likely, but this did not mean ‘budget update’ and further clarified that these were relations between the fisc and the bank, not between the budget revenues and expenditures.

The Prime Minster admitted he was concerned when the situation with the First Investment Bank (FIB) occurred and came back to Bulgaria from Brussels earlier than planned. “We had many talks with the BNB on that Saturday (28th of June), discussions with leading bankers and I think we found a good solution, which we consulted with the European Commission and late on Sunday, 29th of June, the EC approved the liquidity support scheme, at the amount of approximately 3 billion BGN. Congratulations on the good work of the relevant department”, Oresharski said.

As regards the case with the banking system chaos, he said it was a real stress test and was very pleased that all the banks managed to handle within their own liquidity. As at today, he added that not a single BGN was spent from the support, which Brussels authorized.

He reiterated that the Bulgarian banking system on the whole has had very good indicators, significantly exceeding the indicators of the banks in the countries from the Old Europe.

Orehsraski said, that intentional panic in the banking system should not be allowed.

He appreciated the work of the three Deputy Prime Ministers as excellent. He said that all the other ministers did relatively well in the areas of their responsibilities. “I really regret that the horizon was small and unstable to begin several important reforms that have already been postponed for more than 10 years, continued Oresharski in response to a question what he did not have enough time for. According to him, healthcare is a sector important for every citizen, but on the other hand the healthcare system was a favourite topic of politicians and often used by populists. This prevents brave reforms, said Oresharski and expressed dissatisfaction that his government did not make significant changes in the healthcare system.

Regarding the ‘South Stream’ gas pipeline project, Oresharski said there was a huge chance the project to be implemented. “The project is not Bulgarian and we will clarify with the European Commission all the remarks they have towards us”, the Prime Minister explained. According to him, Bulgaria has enough arguments to convince the EC that it did not violate EU rules, but if we fail to convince them, we will reflect the remarks and correct ourselves, he added.

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