“I fully subscribe to almost everything that the two ambassadors said, to what Mrs Reding said yesterday. There must be dialogue, Europe wants there to be stability and dialogue in Bulgaria and for political forces to unite around solving problems that affect the entire EU. These are related too to the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism, to Schengen, but also to the freedom of the media and the concentration of ownership in the media sector. These are matters that we, when in opposition, were dealing with. There must be an account of what is happening and why in the outstretched hand there should not be a paving stone.” This was said by Foreign Minister Kristian Vigenin in an interview with bTV’s morning programme, commenting on events of recent days.

 

He said that there should be an analysis of what happened and a decision on the measures to be taken from now on. “If we are responsible and listen to what our partners are saying, we need to discuss 10 points that need to be implemented urgently. To reduce tensions, we need to agree on key issues,” the Bulgarian Foreign Minister said. “Last night I saw people go with pure intentions, but also people who were obviously there to create tension. What happened should worry us, because with paving stones being thrown, more people could have been injured, even killed. I saw people standing with arms raised in front of the police, but also those who deliberately were clashing with them,” Minister Vigenin said.

 

“In talks with ambassadors, they told me that the government is the key to solving the problem, so we literally today have to start a dialogue. Yes, the appointment of Delyan Peevski was a mistake and we are aware of that now. The protesters will realise that the process of the reorganisation of the state was interrupted yesterday,” he said. He said that many things in Bulgaria went back years. “Have you forgotten how this empire was built, that feeds the oligarchy?” the minister asked. According to him, this happened at the time of Boyko Borissov and the tension was being stoked by another circle that sought revenge. “There is no point in saying who this is, because everyone knows very well. We do not accept that in a democratic state, MPs, trade unionists and journalists can be held as hostages,” he underlined, adding that the police should be thanked because they had succeeded in handling the situation without the tension worsening.