06.06.2023
Today the Granite Hall in the building of the Council of Ministers was the venue where the transfer of power ceremony took place. Statements were made by Prime Minister Galab Donev, head of the caretaker government, and by Prime Minister Acad. Nikolai Denkov.
Galab Donev:
Distinguished Mr. Prime Minister, Academician Denkov,
Distinguished Deputy Prime Ministers and Ministers,
It is with great satisfaction and pride that we transfer the governance of the country to the regular government that was elected by the Parliament. Today the National Assembly elected a government that gives hope that the major priority problems facing the Bulgarian citizens and the Bulgarian businesses will be solved. This hope can evolve into trust and reassurance if you continue to work to address all of Bulgaria’s pressing, prospective and strategic priorities. We did a huge and exceptionally responsible work within these ten months. Last August we were confronted with a country at a standstill and as we are handing it over now, absolutely all systems of statehood function well. I am confident even more as I heard today the political declaration from the rostrum of the National Assembly that the elected government pledges continuity in the main priorities that the caretaker government had set in its work. I will not enumerate the achievements that we made. I will mention only some of the areas, especially the energy sector where we ceased to be dependent on Russia’s supplies of natural gas and fresh nuclear fuel. We made a feasibility study and a start of a Bulgaria-Greece company to proceed with the construction of the Alexandroupolis-Bourgas oil pipeline. We concluded a 13-year agreement on access to all liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals of Greece and Turkey and that is what no other country, not even the European Commission, could achieve. We concluded an agreement with Azerbaijan, Romania, Hungary and Slovakia on the joint operation of the gas transmission infrastructures of these states and even from today natural gas supply can start for Central, Eastern and Southern Europe. This guarantees the security of supply and the increase of gas supplies from Azerbaijan. Regarding tourism, we moved Bulgaria up to the sixth rung in the world in the growth of number of visitors and to the tenth rung in the growth of revenues from tourism. We recovered investors’ confidence in Bulgaria. In the first quarter of this year, we recorded a 15-fold increase of investment as compared to the first quarter of the previous year. We brought back the Bulgarian citizens’ confidence in the institutions. The institutions operate in full synergy and in team spirit between the ministers and between individual ministers and the cabinet, the public administration and the civil servants. They are the backbone of the performance of the civil service of the country. Their competence and the respect for their work give grounds for any prime minister and any individual cabinet minister to be successful in their work. Do not underestimate the role of civil servants, show respect for their professionalism, integrity and dignity. I would not continue with the report of the caretaker government as we delivered a report at yesterday’s extraordinary sitting where each one ministry presented a detailed report on its portfolio. Let me repeat: I am reassured and pleased to hear the pledged continuity in the priorities to be pursued by the elected government so that it will not ignore the achievements and results and will not start from a scratch what the caretaker government has created until now. We made the Council of Ministers building transparent and open to the public. For the first time this building hosted an “open door” event. For the first time citizens had the opportunity to visit the headquarters of the Executive branch of power. For the first time citizens touched every corner of the Council of Ministers building where the responsible decisions for the governance of the state are made. Don’t put this idea away. May the Council of Ministers building keep its doors open to the Bulgarian citizens at all times. Thank you!
Acad. Nikolai Denkov:
Mr. Donev,
Ladies and Gentlemen, outgoing and incoming cabinet ministers,
Dear guests and Bulgarian citizens,
It is more than normal for the Bulgarian Parliament to elect a new government following the national elections and for that government to assume its obligations as bound under the Constitution. I really wonder why in the past few days this appeared to be a problem for some of the parties, maybe as part of their party campaign, I would say, as well as for some institutions, such as the President. I appeal: let the election of this new cabinet make us forget these emotions that have swayed to excess, let us forget the negativism that only impedes our work and as we vowed today and as you vowed before, let us do all that is possible for the outgoing ministers to hand over the reins of power to the incoming ministers with the idea of starting to work, as soon as possible, for the benefit of the Bulgarian citizens and the Bulgarian businesses. I listened carefully to what Mr. Donev said and I strongly wish that it might materialize. However, there are two points I cannot help but note. In a parliamentary republic, the priorities are set by the National Assembly. It is a well-known fact that I did whatever was possible to ensure continuity within the Ministry of Education. That is my understanding of politics and I will act again in the same manner as far as it is within my control. For this very reason I really did not understand the rationale of the dismissal of all Deputy Ministers but for one or two exceptions today which obviously creates a problem for the operation of the new cabinet and obviously does not conduce to continuity in the priorities and in the many day-to-day activities that each minister will have to perform in the period ahead. For instance, the Ministry of Education and Science is to run the national external assessments in a few days. Let us look at the actions, not just at the words, and seek ways in the coming days so that anything that helps the smooth transition, anything that would help us fulfil the obligations that we assumed, the obligations to the Bulgarian citizens, and let us try to do it together. I hope, as I am sure many of you will try to do that, that you will meet with the new ministers to provide information about the ongoing activities within the ministries. The truth is that while success is important for a minister, it is more important to be aware of the problems confronting each ministry; it is normal that problems exist and my request and my appeal to you is to focus your attention on them as well since after a week or two or after a month, if it turns out that something has not been done, it will not matter whose fault it was. What will matter is that we, the government of the Republic of Bulgaria, has failed. So please let us close some parts of the page that we had so far with full respect for what you have accomplished and hand over the power to the elected government so that it can perform its duties.
