Bulgaria’s institutions are ready to work in an emergency situation and the results can be seen - the situation is under control in the river valley of the Danube.

This was said in Parliament by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Disaster Management Policy Emel Etem in debate on the motion of no confidence tabled by 50 opposition MPs on the basis of “the Cabinet’s failure to cope with the consequences of the floods”.

Etem described the motion as badly-timed and unproductive and said that hence it was “politically pointless”. However, she said, a discussion about natural disasters was useful to the public.

A disaster management policy is above a matter of national security and required that everybody should be prepared - including families and institutions. Etem said that if there had been timely investment in critical infrastructure, the consequences of the floods would not have been so devastating. Statistics showed that funds had not been allotted for the maintenance and construction of infrastructure for the past 20 years, she said.

The Government had taken a number of measures since the beginning of its term of office. The Prime Minister had set up a crisis management centre. The Cabinet adopted two bills on protection of the population and the national economy and on the establishment of an emergency call system with the European number, 112, Etem said. All ministries and agencies had to identify the problems relevant to critical infrastructure and have to put forward measures to address them and to pledge to fund the renovation of outdated infrastructure, she said.