Failed Bulgarian FinMin Was on Anti-Communist Mission

Sacked Bulgarian Vice-PM Simeon Djankov has described himself as an "accidental politician" and staunch anti-communist just days before resigning from cabinet Monday.

In a lecture given last Thursday at the Peterson Institute in Washington, DC, Djankov spoke about how,, back in 2009 he was attracted to then new and now ruling GERB party.

According to the erstwhile World Bank economist, this happened by chance, and he was drawn by the oportunity to help out a new center-right political force oust the socialist-led coalition cabinet of then-PM Sergey Stanishev.

"I was driven by one emotion: I've never liked communists, and then the communists' new version, the socialists, had taken cabinet," said Djankov.

"I went to fight that new interpretation of communism," stressed the resigned Bulgarian Minister of Finance.

"I've been seeing my work in this years as that - so that socialists never come to power again in Bulgaria, and hopefully not anywhere else in Europe," added he.

Djankov went on to slam Stanishev's cabinet for heavy government spending attempting to boost the economy, and vowed for stringent fiscal discipline, something he has been fighting for since assuming power in July 2009.

Media reports Monday have it that Djankov fell out with Bulgarian PM Boyko Borisov precisely over matters related to spending, amid unprecedented protests over economic stagnation and high prices.

During his Peterson Institute lecture, the resigned Bulgarian FinMin was also critical of many of the choices and the perceived slow action of EU institutions and other EU finance ministers in reining in the financial crisis.

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