60807 | 18 Nov. 2024 | 01:49

Radev made political mistakes that reshaped the political map of Bulgaria and resulted in disastrous consequences for the country. He undermined the path of agreement, driven by his desire to stand out as the sole authority in the state

 "The goal of Radev is not a party, but a new constitutional formula with sole authority. Radev has a strong desire for such uncontrolled authority". (Ognian Minchev)

 "Radev plays a duplicitous role both in our domestic and foreign policy. His main focus is to erode and compromise trust in our political system". (Asen Genov)

 "So far, Radev has spent a lot of public energy on a project that turned out to be unsuccessful". (Daniel Valchev)

 "Who created this fictitious coalition CC-DB - the one who called them charlatans, and they tried to destroy the state". (Bayram Bayram)

 "Didn't he come out with a raised fist. Thanks to this raised fist and its proxies, we saw what happened to Bulgaria". (Erol Mümün)

 "Radev is pursuing a consistent policy of breaking up the BSP. President expects negotiations with parties in parliament to return his interim cabinet. (Korneliya Ninova)

 "Radev depended on greedy boys, who then deceived him. He wasted his chance, and now he can't just make up that he is the savior". (Delyan Peevski)

 "From here on, the president begins to pay a political price". (Rumyana Kolarova)

 "New elections without Radev could ignite the situation". (Andrey Raichev)

 "If everything that is being discussed is true, most likely part of Radev's behavior is related to his potential involvement in party politics. This is problematic – either you are a president and act accordingly, or you are a party leader". (Strahil Deliyski)

 "If the president has a project, it will be announced by him. Radev will not work through proxies, he will lead it himself". (Anton Kutev)

 It will not be easy for Radev if he enters the party field. It is not easy for him even at the top of the state pyramid. I quote these statements only from the last few days to show to what extent the attitude towards the head of state has changed and how much he has lost from the prestige he had when he entered "Dondukov" 2 eight years ago.

 Exactly when we mark 35 years since the beginning of the transition, we make the freezing evaluation - a failed generation of politicians whose time is running out; parties depleted of content that self-reproduce a parasitic elite; absence of basic democratic norms in public and political life; lack of a shared national goal and vision. And all of this is generated by a decaying society, woven with aggression and hatred, which seems to live without direction and doesn't see a positive future for itself.

 In one word - we are facing the dramatic danger of a final failure of Bulgaria on its path of democratic development.

 The anger from repeated elections, deepening the crisis and not providing a solution to the question of power, and therefore the future, puts the standby mode on for the new messiah - the Savior, who will guide us through the mud of today's political reality. The Bulgarian seems to have gotten used to it - when things get heated, someone will solve their problems for them. 23 years ago, the Savior was recognized as our king, who would save us from the red and blue fog; then Borisov "The Cat" was seen as a denial of that "l...." wrapped in cling film, as he called the party system; then he soared with Slavi - "The Chalga Singer", who came to "shake up" everyone.

 The saviors came with huge expectations, concentrating a huge electoral resource that they squandered. The king lasted 800 days, "The Chalga Singer" lasted eight days, but Borisov stayed the longest - a whole 13 years.

 Now, they say, comes the turn of Radev. However, there is a huge and significant difference between him and his predecessors - both Simeon, Borisov, and Slavi appeared on the field as new players, they were unknown, politically clean and innocent, which is why the euphoria surrounding them was overwhelming.

 Radev is not unknown. He has been on the field for eight years, he is part of the problem. Because, firstly - it produces and activates political entities that deepen the problem. And secondly - during these eight years, Radev single-handedly managed for almost two years with cabinets appointed by him, during which time he showed unexpected ambitions for uncontrolled power.

 Radev is responsible for: five transitional governments, two major party projects, five leaderships of special services, hundreds of senior officials, dozens of diplomats, military and MEPs. Never in modern Bulgarian history has there been a person who has concentrated so much power - personnel and operational, like President Rumen Radev and his circle.

 During this period, Radev made political mistakes that reshaped the political landscape of Bulgaria and led to disastrous consequences for the state:

 - He raised his fist against legitimately elected parties with the aim of a creeping change of the management model. The fist activated opposition and aggression, but did not give birth to change, did not create an alternative. It did not give birth to statehood, but created powerlessness. Like no other statesman, Radev showed that he hates and denies parties and incites political leaders. He undermined the path for a consensus between them, driven by his desire to stand out as the only authority in the state.  This is his personal ego, projected onto the processes in the country.

 - He divided Bulgarians into cohorts - the Bulgarians from "his cohort" against Bulgarians from "other cohorts". Radev has never proposed a formula for reducing public tensions. On the contrary, ever since he raised his presidential fist in the summer of 2020 to "wrestle" with the uncomfortable, Bulgaria has been caught in a spell of hatred, aggression, and denial, where every attempt at compromise has failed.

 - He won a second term, but failed to make 2/3 of Bulgarians recognize him as a national leader. The political forces that supported him later turned their backs on him. He betrayed those who raised him and catapulted him onto the political stage.

 - He created proxies as a weapon against his political opponents, which led to the actual dismantling of the state. Radev is the only president who dared to stand against the engineering project of the systemic parties that democracy relies on. Deliberately and purposefully used PP to detonate the system. The invasion of "Change" into the political scene, with lies, aggression and amateurism as the norm in political behavior, has led to dramatic consequences for the state. And he is responsible for this.

 - He allowed a violation of the Constitution in order to impose Kiril Petkov as a minister, to have more power through him. The Harvard graduate turned out to be the biggest misconception that Bulgarian politics knows. He ordered the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences to make Nikolay Denkov an academician while he was a caretaker minister.

 - He made a mess with those proxies, thereby falsifying the vote and raising their election percentages from 7 to 20, according to their own admission, which led to serious distrust in the electronic voting.

 - Ways to break the BSP by growing internal opposition. Radev was not a member of the BSP, he did not know the structures of the party, nor did the party organizations know him until 2016 when he was elected president. He was an external element, introduced and recognized by the party through the active support of Kornelia Ninova and the party members. Radev never felt the BSP with his soul, on the contrary! That's why with an "open heart" he did everything in his power to contribute to the current sorry state of the centenarian.

 - His caretaker government, led by Galya Dinev, signed the most shameful contract for Bulgaria with the Turkish company "Botas" - an example of corruption at the highest level. Our country pays half a million dollars a day for this contract and the amount we have to pay for the entire 13-year period is 4 billion and 100 million leva. Such a blow to the pocket of the Bulgarian people has never been seen before.

 - Under his wing, the "Silk Road" was established - "monstrous smuggling, cash, extortion of businessmen, distribution of bags of money in a dark room at the presidency, total self-absorption and abuse of state power at the highest level", which he continues to remain silent about. In a notorious secret recording from a meeting of the leadership of CC Asen Vasilev in 2023, it is stated: "Rumen Radev has taken under one arm Geshev, and under the other - Koprinkov". Radev has not denied this. His secretaries were allowed to staff the state - there are many examples, but the typical ones are Koprivkov, who participated and directed party projects and appointed positions in important systems and resource departments such as API, customs, NRA, etc., and Plamen Uzunov, who is responsible for changes in the security sector, especially in the Ministry of Interior. Corruption suspicions stuck to the forehead of "Dondoukov" 2, and it turned out that the cash was going hand in hand with state affairs. None of his predecessors allowed this.

 - He carried out the largest cleansing of the administration - 14,000 layoffs between August 2022 and June 2023. The appointed caretaker cabinets created absolutely unnecessary changes, which will have to be corrected for years to come under any regular government. And he "arranged" for the heavy accusation of abuse of power. This actually led to the rapid changes in the Constitution, which turned out to be a huge mistake.

 - It created a circle of behind-the-scenes players with suspicions of unregulated influence on the economic and political power in the country. And it stirred up scandals that destroyed his reputation as a moral pillar of the nation.

 - He did not fulfill his main duty according to the Constitution - to be a unifier of the nation and to contribute to unity in society.

 After all this, can Radev be the new Savior? Even as a joke, such a version is not suitable.

 Radev can create his own political project - whether now, as he is being pressured by his environment, or after the end of his term, as he is likely considering. But he will carry all this baggage that he has accumulated in the past few years.

 This baggage will stand next to the current political players and like them will struggle under the weight of committed political sins and accusations by judges. He will have to answer for everything he has done and not done during these years.

 He will feel at one point what it means to lose immunity.

 And day by day, he will see how his rating decreases.

 Radev does not possess the charm of a king, upon his return in 2001; nor the charisma of Borisov, when he appeared in 2009; nor the charm of Chalgaria, which attracted Bulgarians in 2021. He is simply a part of the landscape that Bulgarians do not like, but unlike the rest of the players, he benefits from institutional rating. This is his advantage now, which will disappear tomorrow.

 During these years, Radev positioned himself primarily as a critic - of everyone and everything. In his proof of principles and abilities, we will see him in the Central Election Bureau declared as a candidate for president. But he didn't give any recipes. Based on the denial and euphoria of anger, his party can become the leading political force, but can it lead a reform government that will get us out of the crisis? His ambition to be a dictator gives no reason to believe in this direction. Radev is not a player who seeks partners and consensus. Just the opposite.

  Radev is suspected of tendencies towards establishing a regime. This will provoke fierce opposition. That is why today's politicians, despite all the criticism towards them, have sharpened senses. That is why every sign coming from the White House is closely monitored. To replace democracy with a soft dictatorship - this may be brewing in someone's head, but it is hardly the alternative that can lead the country out of the crisis and put us on the right European path.

 When you have created the Toxic Trio, when you have given birth to the charlatans of the state and when you have sold the future of the country to foreign interests, there is no way to become the new party leader who will eradicate the mafia and defeat the status quo.

 And most importantly - there is no way to become a national leader on the party field, after missing this chance while you were on the presidential pulpit.