Justice Minister Georgi Petkanov (60) said that he was to resign from office. On May 30, Petkanov broke the news to reporters after a session of the Supreme Judicial Council. He cited personal and health reasons. “I am tired and want to rest. Two terms as a Cabinet minister are more than enough," Petkanov said he did not talk to anyone before his resignation. “I have thought about it for some time, but did not talk to Sergei Stanishev - Prime Minister and leader of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) - or National Movement Simeon II (NMSII) leader Simeon Saxe-Coburg. The BSP, NMSII and the Movement for Rights and Freedoms form the coalition Government.
“This is not a game and I will not change my mind”. Petkanov was appointed as Justice Minister in 2005 from the quota of NMSII.
This is his second term in office after four years as interior minister in Saxe-Coburg’s cabinet (2001-05). "The Justice Ministry is too big an institution and needs a lot of work; it is quite different from the Interior Ministry,” Petkanov said. His resignation will become official on June 4, a day after the NMSII congress.
Petkanov said that his actions had nothing to do with the rowl between Economy and Energy Minister Roumen Ovcharov and Angel Alexandrov, head of the National Investigation Service. Both are on compulsory leave. Ovcharov, who is among the BSP's most popular faces, was supposed to come back on work on May 28 but his leave was extended by Stanishev until June 4. The so-called “Ovcharovgate” broke three weeks ago when Alexandrov said that Ovcharov had threatened him and applied pressure on him. The result was that an investigation was launched by the Prosecutor-General’s Office and both of them went on compulsory leave. The results of the investigation were supposed to be announced on May 31 but from what Kamen Sitnilski Deputy Prosecutor-General told private Darik radio on May 23, the results would not cause a major news break. “We have not found a single document which confirms the words of the people involved in the scandal,” Sitnilski said. No matter what the results, it will be very difficult for both Ovcharov and Alexandrov to keep their jobs. After the scandal broke, several member of the BSP executive bureau said that Ovcharov should leave the Cabinet. In just three days, Yanaki Stoilov, Ilia Bozhinov and Kostadin Paskalev said that Ovcharov should not come back to work, regardless of the results of the investigation. This and the BSP’s and NMSII’s bad results in Bulgaria's May 20 European Parliament elections, provoked speculation in the Bulgarian-language media about a Cabinet reshuffle.
Besides Ovcharov, the name of Health Minister Radoslav Gaidarski appeared. His resignation has been demanded time and again by both the opposition and medics because of the state of health reform. The situation with Alexandrov is the same. On May 29 he met Prosecutor-General Boris Velchev. “We talked about him leaving office but we have not decided anything yet,” Velchev told reporters after the meeting. So far Petkanov is the only Minister who said he wants to resign. He also seems to be the only one who heard Stanishev’s words on May 22 “the election results might be the reason for changes in the cabinet”.
