Bulgaria PM Slams Ex EconMin for 'Talking Rubbish', Laying Traps

Prime Minister Boyko Borisov said Friday he had given up plans to offer Traicho Traikov a job at the government. Photo by Sofia Photo Agency

Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov has accused Traicho Traikov, former Minister of Economy, Energy and Tourism, of setting traps for the GERB government, of deliberately obstructing projects and of "talking plain rubbish".

Borisov's attack against Traikov, who was asked to resign last week over the disgrace at the business forum in Qatar, comes one day after Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Simeon Djankov announced that the ex-Minister would be invited to work for the Cabinet.

In a Friday interview, however, Borisov told journalists that he had given up on the idea to appoint Traikov as his advisor, adding that he had lost trust in him.

According to unconfirmed reports cited by news portal mediapool.bg, Traikov had no intention of accepting a job at the GERB government.

"I had every intention of continuing work with Traicho Traikov, but if I do not hear him say the truth and if he fails to remove the traps he set for the new Minister, than I will be really sorry for the time I spent working with him, for the huge effort I put in him in this period of close to three years, for the freedom I gave him to decide everything at the ministry and to handle the staff as he saw fit," Borisov stated.

The Prime Minister explained that he was giving Traikov the chance to come up with an explanation as to why he had spoken "such rubbish."

"He is talking about things he failed to accomplish and that he knows cannot happen," Borisov snapped.

The Prime Minister pointed out that the chances of a discount in gas supply contracts were rather slim, provided that it was already clear that Bulgaria was not going to build the Belene NPP solely as a Bulgarian-Russian project and after  the withdrawal from the Bourgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline.

"I planned to leave Traikov as my advisor so that we could wrap up some of the things he is competent at doing. I repeat – given the trap he set for Delyan Dobrev, if he fails to come forward and explain these things so as to clear the way for the new Minister, if he fails to explain that it was me in person who stripped Lukoil of a license with the help of the Customs Agency (he attended all talks), I will consider that he was deliberately working against me and the government," the Prime Minister warned.

Borisov went on to criticize Traikov for the scandal with Lukoil.

He emphasized that the newly publicized findings of the Commission on Protection of Competition (KZK) about a cartel in the fuel sector also concerned OMV, Rompetrol and Petrol.

"How come there's only talk about one company? Why would one want to shut down the biggest company in Bulgaria? What if some 5000-6000 end up unemployed, what happens then", Borisov inquired.

Regarding Traikov's demand that a section of the South Stream gas pipeline should be fully owned by Bulgaria, Borisov commented that such a scenario would mean inviting a new crisis like the one with Hungary.

He also castigated Traikov for the "misconceptions" he was disseminating in public space on the topic of the Belene NPP.

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