Bulgaria Ex-President Calls on PM to Resign over UN Failure

Bulgaria's former President (2002-2012) Georgi Parvanov. File photo, BGNES

President (2002-2012) Georgi Parvanov has urged Prime Minister Boyko Borisov to step down over the Bulgarian candidates' performance at the last vote for UN Secretary General.

Former Portuguese Prime Minister Ant?nio Guterres was singled out by the UN Security Council with nearly unanimous support, leaving both the official Bulgarian nominee Kristalina Georgieva and the earlier one Irina Bokova behind.

Parvanov has said Borisov should take political responsibility for his actions. "This is the manly and dignified response to such a situation."

He has also called on the government in Sofia to withdraw EU Commission Vice President Kristalina Georgieva from Brussels, after the latter was nominated in end-September to replace UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova.

Borisov, who had initially submitted the candidacy of Bokova in February, reportedly did so under pressure from Parvanov (leader of ABV party and then a coalition partner), who then vowed his party would quit the cabinet.

Foreign Minister Daniel Mitov should also resign, Parvanov has argued, quoted by news website Dnevnik.bg.

"I cannot ask for the resignation of Ms Merkel, but I think that if she is complicit in what happened in Bulgaria, an apology should follow," Parvanov has noted.

The ABV leader, however, has denied to join hands with the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), the second-largest opposition force, for a no-confidence motion the latter has called over the late nomination of Kristalina Georgieva.

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