“Our motion of no confidence is based on the obvious failure of the Government to cope with the consequences of the most recent floods.

Thank God that they were not catastrophic and that there were no victims, but the fact that people lost their houses and property, which they had spent years building up, can only be described as a tragedy.   

We hold that if the Government, and most of all Emel Etem, the Minister for Disaster Management, had taken the necessary precautionary measures, the damage from the floods would have been much less significant. We hold that the lack of such adequate measures is a result of the current Government’s incompetence, and the problems inherited from the previous government. What is the link between the two governments?     

 The link is that the two governments’ disaster management policies were assigned to one party - the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF). The MRF was a coalition partner in the previous government, and today is a coalition partner of this Government. Questions about what exactly happened last year, what measures should have been taken but were not, how much money should have been invested, but was wasted or went to the pockets of companies from inner circles, is something for which subsequent speakers will give reasons.    

My goal with these opening words is to declare that the most recent floods showed, as in a mirror, the infirmity and incapability of the Government to cope with serious tasks. They showed the Government’s incapability to cope with tasks that demand competence, determination and responsibility, especially when such tasks involve money and funds and the ways of their spending. I have used the word “incapability”. The Bulgarian media have been more ruthless, naming it corruption - the inner circle of companies. This is something that has scandalised mayors, citizens’ organisations and even MPs from the parties of the ruling majority. Here are the first two alarming questions:     

Question number one:

If the Government cannot cope with a crisis of such a relatively low scale, what can we expect of it should the country be faced with a bigger and more devastating natural disaster or some other kind of crisis?

Question number two:

If the Government allows the abuse of funds meant for coping with consequences that affect human destinies, how can we believe that it will manage our money with responsibility and honesty? How can we believe that the Government will absorb in Bulgaria’s interest the billions of euro coming from EU accession funds? 

The answers to these two questions lead to suspicion about the Government.

This suspicion today can be seen to have already taken shape in Bulgarian society. Bulgarian citizens are increasingly aware of the incompetence of the Government and, which is even worse, are aware of the negative consequences of this incompetence in the view of Bulgaria’s possible EU membership. We welcome the Government’s public statements that it wants, and is making an effort towards, this membership, but it has become more and more obvious that, instead of adding to the country’s progress in this final stage of negotiations with the EU, the Government has lost the speed and the confidence that Bulgaria has had on its way to the EU.  For this reason, the Government’s statements that our motion will obstruct Bulgaria’s EU membership look ridiculous. Quite the contrary, we are quite sure that the ruling majority will not allow for our motion to be approved But if we had not tabled this no confidence motion, we would have been not only just witnesses to the Government’s failure in all social areas of Bulgaria, but also accomplices to this failure. The question here is not what reports and evaluations we will receive from our partners from Brussels. The way that the Government is evaluated can be seen in the mood among Bulgarian citizens. The promised increase in salaries did not happen. By the way, with the coming presidential elections, there is a new promise today - an increase in pensions.  The declared intention to fight organised crime seems comic in the light of the public murders and mob wars happening on the streets. Corruption has become one of Bulgaria’s main problems, and a hallmark of this Government. That is why the question here is not only about the Government not coping with the floods. The Government did not cope because it is incapable of coping with any kind of crisis at all. It cannot handle any crisis because the coalition partners have different political views and different philosophies about how to rule Bulgaria. Each of them gave different promises to their supporters and financial sponsors, and at the end had committed themselves to different interests. However, we have seen that pursuing these different party and clan interests contradicts Bulgaria’s interests.  That is why it is our duty to ask for this vote of no confidence, because we have to say clearly to the tripartite coalition: you have a majority in Parliament, which will remain in power after this no confidence vote, but you do not have the trust of Bulgaria’s people that you can handle the country’s problems. What Olli Rehn, EU commissioner registers with every one of his visits to Bulgaria, is registered by every Bulgarian citizen every day.

The claim that our motion is aimed at discrediting the Government is without foundation. Our motion is motivated only by our desire not to discredit Bulgaria and the efforts and achievements of previous governments, politicians, experts and citizens who worked not only for EU integration of the country, but also for a more secure, richer, and self-confident Bulgaria. Unfortunately, under your rule, Bulgaria is neither more secure, nor richer or more confident in its future. For the first time since we filed our request for EU membership, the question of separating Bulgaria from Romania has come on to the agenda. If Bulgaria does not join the EU as scheduled on January 1 2007 or gets accepted with any kind of safety clause, the only political alibi for forming this coalition Government - that it is the Government of EU integration - will lose its meaning. This failure will turn this Government into the Government of national defeat. That is why this no confidence vote is so timely. There is still time for you to come to your senses and start working -after that it would be too late. You will fall from the political scene without a no confidence vote, but Bulgaria will pay a heavy price.  

President Georgi Purvanov, who is the political father and mentor of this Government, is not present today. On the first day that the coalition Government was formed, I said that Purvanov was a political hostage to the MRF. Purvanov made the Government a hostage to the MRF so that he could fulfil his commitments to the leader of the MRF, Ahmed Dogan, made in the presidential elections in 2001. Purvanov wants only to again get the support of the disciplined MRF supporters in the next presidential elections. The MRF’s aggressive and cynical view of power as a means to personal and party enrichment has become a hallmark of the Government and in a way this has become a major problem for Bulgaria. This inevitably leads to a counter-reaction, a denial of everything achieved so far by the country in the field of EU and NATO integration. This situation has given birth to new parties, new leaders, who arrogantly exploit national sentiments and Bulgarians’ desire for justice. Such leaders call for a policy implemented with a firm hand, and in this way discredit Bulgaria’s democracy. A democracy for which so much effort has been made. In conclusion, I want to say that this no confidence vote is not aimed solely at consolidating the opposition. It is aimed at something more. It is obligatory to consolidate the Bulgarian opposition because with this Government, Bulgaria must have an opposition that will defend Bulgarians’ interests. Something very unlikely today with such a strong majority, but very likely after the next elections.”