PP-DB accused GERB, DPS and BSP of coordinated sabotage of the “Turkish Stream” commission

GERB, DPS and BSP coordinated and sabotaged the meeting of the temporary commission for “Turkish Stream”. This was commented to journalists by Martin Dimitrov, a member of parliament from the PG of “Continuing the change – Democratic Bulgaria”, a member of the temporary commission for establishing facts and circumstances regarding the missing strategic document “Road map for the implementation of projects for the expansion of the gas transmission system of the Republic of Bulgaria”. , as well as all the facts and circumstances regarding the implementation of the Turkish Stream project.

Dimitrov made his statement after the postponement of today’s meeting of the commission. Venko Sabrutev from the same parliamentary group noted that they expected this sabotage.

The committee did in fact hold a meeting, but it was adjourned without achieving anything substantial.

The same parties voted a few years ago in the parliament for the implementation of this project, which, according to him, is harmful to Bulgaria, cost three billion and helped Putin bypass Ukraine, said Dimitrov. “This is a project to the detriment of Bulgaria, we pay the bill and it benefits Russia, which gets a way to bypass Ukraine,” BTA quoted him as saying. According to the MP, no more such projects should happen, and all responsibility should be taken for them.

We expected GERB, DPS and BSP to unite again behind the “Turkish Stream” cause. This is their cause. Therefore, today we are organizing an open meeting (later today in the National Assembly) of our parliamentary group here in the National Assembly, Sabrutev said in turn.

“If they fail this commission – we are making a civil commission, we will bring out the facts and circumstances, they will not be able to stop us”, added Martin Dimitrov.

The chairman of GERB, Boyko Borisov, stated a few days ago that “Bulgaria has the best (gas) infrastructure and 80 percent of the compressors in the entire Balkans are in the “Balkan stream” (as defined by the continuation of the “Turkish stream through our country – b.r. .) in Bulgaria. This is a printing house for money for Bulgarians and it is 100 percent Bulgarian”.

Parliament voted to establish the temporary committee on April 3, but failed to elect a chairman, so today’s meeting was scheduled by the Speaker of the National Assembly. Her period of validity is one month (unless her work is extended). The proposer of the proposal is the PG of PP-DB.

First empty meeting of the commission

The first meeting of the Temporary Commission to establish facts and circumstances regarding the missing strategic document “Road map for the implementation of the project for the expansion of the gas transmission system of the Republic of Bulgaria”, as well as all the facts and circumstances regarding the implementation of the “Turkish Stream” project on the territory of the Republic Bulgaria, was suspended due to disputes over the agenda, BTA reported. On the page of the commission, it was stated that as the first point today, the internal rules of the commission had to be adopted. As a second point, Temenuzka Petkova, who was Minister of Energy for the period 2014-2021, was scheduled to be heard. Third point was “miscellaneous”.

Today’s meeting was chaired by the deputy from the parliamentary group (PG) of the DPS, Ramadan Atalai, because Dragomir Stoynev, appointed as the chairman of the temporary committee and a representative from the PG of “BSP for Bulgaria”, Dragomir Stoynev, has submitted a written notification that he will not be able to attend. Therefore, the Speaker of the National Assembly has ordered today’s meeting of the commission to be chaired by Ramadan Atalay.

Venko Sabrutev addressed the temporary chairman of the commission, Ramadan Atalai, that the PG of “We continue the change-Democratic Bulgaria” propose to vote on the agenda that they proposed, namely a hearing of the acting minister of energy (without specifying exactly who). , the Inspectorate at the Ministry of Energy, the “Bulgarian Elves” organizations, as well as Iliyan Vassilev as an analyst.

“Today’s meeting is being held at the request of 30 percent or more of the people’s representatives, and accordingly it must be held with this agenda, which we have requested from the Speaker of the National Assembly,” said MP Sabrutev. He agreed to hear Temenuzka Petkova, but the group insists on the three points that were presented in writing to the Speaker of the Parliament.

Ramadan Atalai replied that the proposed people from the PG of “Continuing the change-Democratic Bulgaria” will be heard, but after providing the temporary commission with the relevant materials and documents for the members of the commission to familiarize themselves with.

People’s representative Tomislav Donchev from the PG of “GERB-SDS” called on the State Agency “National Security” (DANS) and/or the Council of Ministers to provide the “Road Map”.

He recalled that two years ago the chairman of DANS mentioned during a hearing in the parliament that he had it and provided it to the prime minister. In addition, if the temporary commission wants to recreate all the events in a period of 3-4 years ago, there is a huge volume of information both in the secret file of the Council of Ministers and in military intelligence. “She, all of them, is classified according to your judgment,” said Tomislav Donchev.

Martin Dimitrov proposed that, in addition to Temenuzka Petkova, Iliyan Vasilev, who was present in the hall, should also be heard.

Stanislav Anastasov from the PG of the DPS turned to Venko Sabrutev and Martin Dimitrov and stated that part of the documents contained classified information and trade secrets, and therefore he asked them how these organizations and experts they invite have access to it.

Martin Dimitrov drew attention to the fact that he has a written response from the former Acting Minister of Energy, Rumen Radev, who indicated that he had started an inspection of the Inspectorate at the Ministry of Energy. “The most logical thing was for you as the chairman to invite these people and ask them how far this investigation has gone,” he said. Dimitrov noted that the Acting Minister of Energy was not present at the meeting. Ramadan Atalay replied that he was not the permanent chairman of the interim committee to take responsibility for whom to invite. He added that for the next meeting, DANS may be asked to provide the Road Map, then it will be proposed to request other documents as well. He gave as an example that information can be requested from “Bulgartransgaz” regarding all market tests and capacity reservation procedures for the project to expand the Bulgarian gas transmission network, as well as the revenues and expenses for the operation.

“You turned it into a pre-election fair. This map was found much earlier and you, like some scumbags, hid it,” said Toshko Yordanov, MP from the PG of “Ima talik narod”.

Tomislav Donchev pointed out that “there is no Turkish Stream project on the territory of Bulgaria”. Therefore, he suggested that the commission summon the ambassador of Turkey for a hearing. Alexander Nenkov from the PG of “GERB-SDS” also asked to be heard by former Prime Minister Kiril Petkov.

After a call by Ramadan Atalay to vote on the committee’s internal rules, Venko Sabrutev said that his parliamentary group would not support them because they had not had time to familiarize themselves with them. Pavela Mitova offered to read the three sheets with the internal rules in order to introduce them to the group of “We continue the change-Democratic Bulgaria”. Radaman Atalay suggested in his turn that the meeting be terminated, since “Continuing the change-Democratic Bulgaria” did not familiarize themselves with the rules. However, Martin Dimitrov called for a meeting to be held anyway. In the end, the first meeting of the temporary parliamentary committee on the “Road Map” and “Turkish Stream” was terminated. After the end of the meeting, Venko Sabrutev denied that his termination was the fault of “We continue the change-Democratic Bulgaria”, but because of the current chairman of the commission.

What is the plan with this commission

The Commission must establish the chronology of the actions of signing the Road Map and the legality of the actions of the then acting Minister of Energy Temenuzka Petkova (GERB-SDS) and all other involved administrative persons. The temporary parliamentary body must also establish all the facts and circumstances related to the implementation of the “Turkish Stream” project on the territory of the Republic of Bulgaria – financing, tender procedures, construction, amount of transit fees, returnability and operation of the project – have all legal requirements been observed and administrative procedures regarding the implementation of the project.

The commission must also analyze whether the “Roadmap for exploring the possibilities for expanding the gas transmission system of the Republic of Bulgaria” contains conditions and commitments that contradict the Bulgarian national interest. The Commission must also carry out an analysis and check for the presence of illegal or disadvantageous clauses for the Bulgarian side and placing Bulgaria in dependence on the Russian side. Documents and photos leaked to the media from the e-mails of Russian citizens, including Russian citizens sanctioned because of Russian aggression in Ukraine, “Road map for studying the possibilities for expanding the gas transmission system of the Republic of Bulgaria”, showing how the gas pipeline “Turkey Stream” will be analyzed was realized under the dictation of the Russian company “Gazprom” and the authorities in Moscow, and showing how the Russian state directly managed Bulgarian energy during the construction of “Turkey Stream”.

The temporary committee includes 12 people’s representatives, elected on a parity basis – two from each parliamentary group. These are Tomislav Donchev and Alexander Nenkov from GERB-SDS, Venko Sabrutev and Martin Dimitrov from PP-DB, Ramadan Atalai and Stanislav Anastasov from DPS, Daniel Prodanov and Kosta Stoyanov from Vazrazhdane, Dragomir Stoynev and Borislav Gutsanov from BSP for Bulgaria “, as well as Toshko Yordanov and Pavela Mitova from “There is such a people”.