35 municipal councilors supported a declaration against the regional governor of Burgas

In Burgas, 35 municipal councilors supported a declaration demanding that urgent measures be taken against regional governor Plamen Yanev. The declaration was prepared by the honorary chairman of the Middle European Class party, Georgi Manev. The reason for it is a comment by the regional governor during the first solemn municipal session, in which he stated that the municipal councilors were elected with low voter turnout. The declaration will be sent to Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov.

“Dear City Councillors. Unfortunately, you are inheriting a heavy inheritance. In 2007, over 96,000 citizens of Burgas found it meaningful to go and elect the councilors to govern for the next 4 years. 4 terms later, such an effort made 40% less. Indifference, ladies and gentlemen, to bodies that should be elected by the people is a greater blow than anger or hatred. It means that the citizens of the municipality find no meaning or rather , fewer and fewer citizens of the municipality find meaning and see the importance of the composition of the municipal council”, said Plamen Yanev at the solemn first municipal session of Burgas.

Initially, Georgi Manev, who prepared the declaration, stated at a press briefing that he would insist on the resignation of the regional governor. However, there is no such request in the declaration. It insists on taking immediate measures without specifying what.

The declaration is not supported by the municipal councilors of the Middle European Class, Vazrazhdane, “There is such a people” and some of the councilors of the BSP.

“I support the declaration, yes. There was a political statement that had no place at this meeting,” said Ivo Baev from GERB.

“Everyone votes according to their conscience and according to their conviction as to whether the declaration is reasonable and whether it will be able to have any social effect”, is the opinion of Veselin Prenerov from GERB.

“The regional governor’s speech at the solemn session irritated many colleagues. He belittled the people’s choice and their choice should not be questioned, at least by the representative of the state,” said Stoyan Grozev from Bulgarian Rise.

Opinions against the declaration were also expressed.

“A deeper reading, perhaps, does sound a bit insulting to the newly elected municipal councillors. But ultimately, I don’t think that’s what he meant. It was simply like an appeal to the newly elected municipal councilors to restore confidence in the body. To me, it rather sounds like some kind of internal, inter-party struggles”, is the opinion of Todor Ivanov from ITN.

“We believe that this is a purely political decision. I am against the requested resignation,” said Stanimir Baev from BSP

“Let’s not confuse a SEC congress with a municipal session. Mr. Manev can ask for many resignations, but this is not the place. Only Prime Minister Denkov… or Peevski can ask for Mr. Yanev’s resignation. I don’t find anything disturbing in the statement . This is some kind of internal party war that they want to transfer to the municipal council,” said Alexander Koychev from Vazrazhdane

The fact is that a serious conflict is brewing in the Middle European Class party. It is between the honorary chairman and founder of the party Georgi Manev and the current leader – Konstantin Bachiiski. A telling example of intra-party misunderstandings is Georgi Manev’s decision to run for municipal councilor from the KOD party. Now the Middle European class has declared against the declaration proposed by Georgi Manev.

“We from the Middle European class think that there is nothing disturbing in the statement. These are the facts. Indeed, the people who came out to vote, 36%, are extremely insufficient. In a word, they told us, “we do not trust politicians and if you continue in the same way, in the next elections, there will be even less activity”. These are internal fights in our organization, which I think within a few weeks, we will clear them up. Otherwise, we do not support the resignation, and even if there is a declaration, we will not sign.

The dispute is of individuals who look in a different direction. The divergence occurred during the election campaign itself. When Mr. Manev went as a candidate for municipal councilor in KOD, he did not stay in the Middle European class, we respected his opinion then. But I don’t see, after the elections are over, that we have such a big discrepancy,” said municipal councilor Ivan Ivanov.

And Georgi Manev explained:

“The low legitimacy that the regional governor imputed to us and allowed himself to speak as a political person, namely as part of the executive committee of the Middle European Class. I would ask the question, would this legitimacy have been low if the SEC candidate had succeeded. And even more so, that a person, never mind that he is a political person, in his capacity as a regional governor, has no right to impute such words to our fellow municipal councilors,” said Manev.

He added that he will demand the resignation of Plamen Yanev as a member of the executive committee of the SEC at the congress.

“I will also ask for the resignation of Konstantin Bachiyski for low results related to the presentation of the SEC in Burgas. It is impossible for the regional governor not to distinguish that he is a state official, but to speak as a politician. It is offended everyone, not only me. We have no conflict, we talk, purely politically,” he shared.

Georgi Manev explained why he became a municipal councilor from KOD, despite being the honorary chairman of the Middle European Class.

“This is part of my intra-party strategy in the SEC. I am the honorary chairman and the executive council is obliged to consider every item on the agenda proposed by the honorary chairman. First, that they do not consider them, secondly, if they are allowed to consider such an item by me, the executive council votes. This vote, the chairman does not exercise control. And in fact, as an equal, an equal among all. We in politics have no right to be offended, we must respect our goals and tasks, as well as the statute,” commented Manev.

We remind you that the rise of the Middle European Class, which for many years had minimal success at the national level, began when the party became the mandate holder of Continuing the change.