Bulgarian President: Attacks on Me Aim at Diverting Attention

Bulgarian President, Rosen Plevneliev, believes slander attacks against him will persist.

He spoke Saturday at the ceremony marking the 100th anniversary of the Balkan Wars and 135 years since the establishment of Bulgaria's army. The ceremony was held at the Military Academy in Sofia.

"The black PR campaign is coordinated and people are aware who is behind it. It has two main goals – to tarnish my reputation as Head of State is the first one. Regardless of my ratings and who measures them, I will not be silenced. The second goal is more alarming – to attack the President in order to divert the attention of the media and the public from other important processes in the State," he stressed.

Plevneliev was targeted recently with claims he had offshore companies in Cyprus where he concealed USD 1 M.

He said Saturday he was not against debates on the topic of offshore business, but noted they must lead to concrete results for Bulgarian citizens with proof of breaches of rules and the law and avoid political blabber, not backed by any evidence.

The President further said there was an increasing probability the GERB party will return very soon to the Parliament.

Currently, the Members of the Parliament from the center-right Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria party, GERB, are not attending any plenary hall sittings on the order of their leader and former Bulgarian Prime Minister, Boyko Borisov.

They have pledged to return only for debates on amendments to the Election Code.

Plevneliev explained that the other parties in the Parliament must make the effort to start such debates and bring GERB back, saying Borisov has already extended a hand on several occasions.

"Revanchist actions and partisan battles are a dead-end street," said he.

The President declined giving an opinion on the election Vladimir Pisanchev to lead the National Security Agency, DANS.

He, however, shared he was alarmed by the fact that NGOs were not allowed to ask the candidates questions during the hearings and by the fact that the only one other contender for the post will be made Pisanchev's deputy.

"I hope these appointments are not the result of some under the table dealings. But we must give them a chance and judge them by the outcome of their deeds. I am sick and tired of snooping scandals. DANS is a mega-structure, and it became even a more mega-structure with the decision of the Socialist-endorsed cabinet to put under its authority the anti-organized crime body. Let's hope the new DANS leadership will manage to avoid scandals. DANS needs to be controlled and I do not see who is going to control it," he stated.

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