[ad_1]
© Anelia Nikolova
A group of citizens protesting near the party house, where the parliament is already located, surprised the GERB deputy, Toma Bikov, as he left the building and carried out a kind of parliamentary check on the sidewalk. The conversation was often interrupted by shouts of “Quit!”, And as he spoke, the MP stood behind a cordon of policemen, carelessly reaching into his pockets and running “into the fabric” with awkward questions (see the full recording in the video below).
In his regular media appearances, the deputy passionately defended the Boyko Borissov government. He is known for his sharp turn in politics: in 2012, as a member of Meglena Kuneva’s party, DBG, he defeated Borisov in the article “Cartoon of a Dictator” and dedicated an entire book to Ahmed Dogan’s file on State Security .
“You have dignity, don’t you?”
– The young people started the conversation, while most of them and the journalists present filmed the conversation. And they asked: “When there is irrefutable evidence that the prime minister has wads of euros and gold bars on his bedside table, how do you feel?”
Bikov said he did not know this was confirmed by evidence, and in response to the chief prosecutor’s role he gave the following response: “Decide whether you want to be dependent or independent. You want control, that means being dependent.”
This understanding of the separation of powers and the role of the National Assembly in controlling the institutions sounded absurd and provoked outrage. The youngsters bombarded Bikov with questions about why the prosecution was not investigating the packages in Borisov’s drawer, the “eight dwarfs” scandal or the suspicions of money laundering in Barcelona. He justified himself by saying that he worked in the National Assembly and not in the Prosecutor’s Office, and that he had to wait for the investigation in Spain.
“Okay, do you think you don’t owe an explanation?” Protesters asked. “I think we owe an explanation of everything to everyone,” Bikov replied, giving an example of how he was currently explaining himself. He agreed that trust in the government had collapsed, so the decision was “to work together to restore it.” AND
called on post-election protesters to govern
When asked if it was normal for MPs to hide from protesters for 60 days, he justified that they feared people would drop bombs. “It’s your fault, you couldn’t stop them,” replied a protester. “I don’t know why you think it will be different in 4 months,” Bikov said, explaining that they wanted to adopt the budget now.
“What a budget, quit, people can’t breathe!” Shouted a protester. “That’s what you think,” he said, noting that his constituents did not want to resign.
The deputy had to answer how he went from being a sharp critic of Borisov to his sworn supporter. “What made you change your mind?” A young woman asked and received the answer: “Many things.” From his explanations it was clear that the two met in 2013, when Borisov was briefly in the opposition, and had the opportunity to talk a lot and ask him a lot of questions “as you are asking me now.”
Borisov gave answers that satisfied Bikov, and then the “cup of patience” overflowed with the reformist bloc – he saw “many things”. By the way, DBG also belonged to the reformist bloc. Bikov said interrogators overestimated him by calling him Borisov’s “right hand man.” He reiterated that his personal contact with Borissov – “conversations, acquaintances” – influenced him to reorient himself from his sharp critic to defender.
To the question: “How much did they pay you?” She answered “Nothing” and asked the Anti-Corruption Fund to review it.
“Who will control you? You have Geshev!”
said a protester. Bikov avoided answering the question and how against two beaches the GERB got votes for the constitution project and with a smile he escaped that elections would come and it would not be governed forever.
The deputy defended the prime minister, explaining that he was not hiding, but “among the people.” And when asked why Borissov is not going to the National Assembly, he replied with a laugh: “Well, I don’t know if the people are in the National Assembly,” so he replied that this is a “Marie Antoinette” style response. .
“Are we the mafia, do we look like a mafia to you?” The young people wanted to know. Bikov justified himself by saying that he had not said such a thing about them and that Borisov had not said it either, and that the idea was not to use the protest.
A question about what the GERB deputies were doing at the chief prosecutor’s meeting followed, after stating that they supported the separation of powers, and Bikov replied that this did not mean that the authorities could not meet. He also did not clearly answer the question: “Why didn’t you ask Geshev a single question at the parliamentary hearing?”
He was also asked how long the parliament would tolerate Geshev, rather than calling for an investigation.
“Why are you asking me? There are other MPs.”
– Bikov tried to leave. He then thought about handing over responsibility to the BSP and said that he had not asked the chief prosecutor questions and that the opposition should exercise control in parliament. And he boasted that he was very good at opposition.
The protesters also asked about the individual constitutional complaint, about the denied access to the audits of the National Revenue Agency in Lukoil despite winning the case in court, about the theft of European money from the government, about the beatings of innocent protesters , on the services of Peevski’s media apparatus. as soon as the money runs out. “No, no, no,” the MP repeated, but did not specifically respond.
To the comment “How long are you going to neglect that people don’t love you? We have been in the plaza for 63 days. How long?” Bikov replied: “Voice of the people, voice of God” and focused on the withdrawal, inviting the protesters to enter the government. He also repeated “God forbid” several times, even for the good of the state.
“We are ashamed of you,” the protesters said goodbye. “I’m not ashamed of you,” Bikov replied, avoiding answering the question of whether he was ashamed of Borisov’s language.
“I’m going crazy”he said and hastily walked away after recalling the cynical remarks heard on one of the prime minister’s recordings that had been leaked to the public. He was accompanied by shouts of “Renunciation!”
