Bulgarian Nationalists Urge Parliament to Condemn US Ambassador

Ataka leader Volen Siderov has called for a vocal response to what he terms "an inadmissible intervention in domestic affairs" on the part of the US Ambassador to Bulgaria. Photo by BGNES

Bulgaria's far-right nationalist party Ataka has suggested that the Parliament should adopt a declaration condemning "the inadequate conduct of US Ambassador James Warlick" following "a statement issued by him in which he interferes in the domestic affairs of the country".

Ataka leader Volen Siderov has submitted the document in response to last week's meeting between Warlick and independent MPs during which the diplomat congratulated them for their bravery.

According to the draft declaration, during his visit to Parliament on July 07, Warlick issued statements that constitute rude intervention in Bulgaria's internal affairs.

"He met with MPs who had withdrawn or had been excluded from their parliamentary groups, whom he assured of his support for political projects designed by them, without taking into account the extremely negative public attitude towards the ugly phenomena involving the restructuring of the political space and the so-called parliamentary nomadism", the document says.

Ataka MPs claim that Warlick's words fail to uphold the constitutional and legal order in the country and are inadmissible for a sovereign country like Bulgaria, which is also an EU member.

In their words, such conduct threatens Bulgaria's political stability, established through the vote of Bulgarian citizens, while catering to dubious and murky interests.

Ataka proposes that the draft declaration urging the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry to send details about the case to the respective institutions in the US be tabled for plenary discussion on July 13.

Bulgarian Parliamentary Chair Tsetska Tsacheva, however, has postponed the request, saying that the document needs to be examined by the parliamentary commissions first.

This has caused Ataka MP Tsveta Georgieva to raise an objection, reminding that the declaration describing Ataka as dangerous for the governance of the country was adopted immediately after its submission.

In May, Siderov sent a letter to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton demanding the recall of US Ambassador to Bulgaria James Warlick.

Siderov provided a written account of a conflict between him and Ambassador Warlick in a Sofia, reporting of what he called a a chance encounter in a Sofia restaurant during which he approached the diplomat with a request that the US should pay USD 2 B for the joint military bases in the country.

Siderov complained that the US Ambassador had threatened that "I will destroy you" and "the US will destroy you" in response, after which the nationalist leader demanded from the parliamentary tribune to be provided security.

In the meantime, the Bulgarian Parliament rejected Wednesday Siderov's sixth proposal to become head of the Anti-Corruption, Conflict of Interests and Parliamentary Ethics Committee.

After Valentin Nikolov, former head of the watchdog, withdrew from Ataka's ranks, accompanied by two other MPs, Siderov's party was left without a representative in the committee and its work ground to a halt.

We need your support so Novinite.com can keep delivering news and information about Bulgaria! Thank you!