“For three months of sabotage of talks by GERB, BSP and other formations, finally we have an elected chairman and immediately “more of the same” and agreements in the dark”, this is how the mayor of Sofia commented on the events of the recent events of the Sofia Municipal Council (SOS) in a publication on Facebook.
The SOS finally became operational after the eighth attempt to elect a chairman was successful. The candidate of “Continuing the change – Democratic Bulgaria” and “Save Sofia” Tsvetomir Petrov was elected chairman with the support of GERB, BSP, the breakaway councilors from “Vazrzhdane” and “Sinya Sofia”.
“We are in a hurry to move the work forward”, but in fact it looks like a freeze in the past. This happened in SOS yesterday. They have been sabotaging the work for Sofia for three months. And precisely by GERB and BSP, who have parceled out their interests in the capital. I will tell them one thing : the people of Sofia trusted me and my team. And they clearly see how you are blocking the work for the city”Terziev wrote on Friday.
The mayor wrote that behind the words about a fair and proportional distribution of the commissions in the SOS, another hypocrisy happened, which contradicts the understanding of his team’s management.
According to Terziev, there is a new majority in SOS – that of interest clubs, which includes GERB, BSP and the small groups that refused to talk about committees. In this way, they will keep the management of the municipal companies and will blame the mayor and his attempts at reforms.
“The speakers of the “opposition majority” rushed into the media – with untruths, accusations, a parody of politics. From all sides – from GERB, BSP… As if only yesterday they were the ones who condemned our city to timelessness for years. Abuses are the only, which I will never compromise on. Whether it’s abuse of a public resource, a contract, or buried garbage. And I will continue to work and expose the ugliness of this timelessness.”wrote the capital’s mayor.
He promises to continue working for Sofia and its citizens in the next four years and will fight the abuses of the new majority.
Struggle for supremacy
The election of the chairman started the struggle for supremacy in SOS on the same day. After nearly seven hours of negotiations, which were scheduled to end in an hour, the municipal councilors gathered for the second meeting of the day to allocate their committees and elect vice-presidents.
The election of Petrov’s deputies ended quickly, but after that GERB and BSP and the smaller parties in the council – the breakaways from “Vazrazhdane”, “Sinya Sofia”, ITN and VMRO, took the leadership of almost all committees and left PP-DB and “Save Sofia” with almost empty hands.
After hours of arguments and quarrels, “We continue the change – Democratic Bulgaria” (PP-DB) and “Save Sofia” left the hall and did not participate in the vote. And it passed with 33 votes “for”, one “abstention” and one “against”.
PP-DB and “Save Sofia” were initially supposed to receive the smaller and less important commissions. Almost all of the nominees subsequently withdrew and are likely to end up receiving one commission. In the numerous changes, votes and re-votes, it was never clear who exactly got which committee.
“Let’s live up to the expectations of the people of Sofia”
Earlier on Friday, the newly elected chairman of the SOS, Tsvetomir Petrov, commented on the events in Facebook. He announced that he did not accept the way in which chairmen of committees from GERB, BSP, “Sinya Sofia”, (ITN), Carlos Contrera from VMRO and the left councilors from “Vazrazhdane” were hastily proposed and accepted.
“I hope that this is not another attempt to block the work of Mayor Terziev, but that we all together make an effort to justify the expectation of the people of Sofia for a different city, in which the processes take place clearly and openly”wrote Petrov.
The co-chairman of the PP Kiril Petkov also commented on what happened in the SOS. From the parliament, Petkov stated that currently a majority is formed in SOS between GERB, BSP and ITN.
“They should say: “We are becoming a majority, we will move the commissions forward and attack the mayor, because we cannot yet accept that we have lost Sofia”said Petkov.
He added that GERB, BSP and ITN should also bear responsibility for the actions of SOS in this development of events, but PP-DB continue to support Mayor Vasil Terziev.
#Majority #Interest #Clubs #Vasil #Terziev #blamed #GERB #BSP #events #SOS