Outgoing Regional Development Minister not surprised by being succeeded by Deputy in Caretaker Cabinet

Speaking on NOVA, outgoing Regional Development Minister Andrey Tsekov said he was not surprised by the nomination of his deputy because such was the concept of the entire cabinet. A few days ago, the candidate for caretaker Prime Minister Dimitar Glavchev presented a draft structure and composition of a caretaker cabinet, Violeta Koritarova was appointed as Minister of Regional Development. Tsekov said that he was not offered to stay. For Georgi Gvozdeikov to remain as minister in the caretaker cabinet project, Tsekov said that Continue the Change" is a democratic party and respects free choice, but there are statutes and rules according to which in the case of decisions without the party's consent, membership is automatically terminated. 

In response to a question whether he suspects why Gvozdeikov remains as a minister, Tsekov said that this was hypocrisy, because Glavchev's cabinet is definitely political, with a bright dominance of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) wing in the GERB party. There is a higher class, often dominated by many MRF leaders, Tsekov added. According to him, the actions of this group are the reason why the rotation does not take place. The government fell not because it did not achieve results, but because it had to make reforms, he added. Asked whether the agreements will be implemented and whether the investments will go to the municipalities, Tsekov said that there is no doubt that the more than BGN 10 billion set aside in the budget will go to the municipalities. According to him, the money can be maliciously stopped, but in a pre-election situation no one has an interest in stopping it. Tsekov also commented on the topic of the Secretary General of the Ministry of Interior Zhivko Kotsev and outgoing Interior Minister Kalin Stoyanov, adding that when there is no consensus between the two, it is extremely worrying. If there is pressure exerted by the leadership of the Ministry of Interior or the Prosecutor's Office on Kotsev, serious intervention of the investigative bodies is required, Tsekov added. In response to a question whether there is an option Kalin Stoyanov to be withdrawn as Minister, Tsekov said that "it depends on the people who govern Glavchev". He is a member of GERB, personnel decisions are made together with MRF, Tsekov commented. 

"I understood that the flow of money between companies involved in the construction of the tunnel is being investigated, not the flow of money from the state to the contractor,” Tsekov said in response to a question about the collection of evidence by the European Public Prosecutor's Office for embezzlement of money during the construction of the Zheleznitsa tunnel. He recalled that the highway was implemented in the period 2019 – 2023, with the vast majority of the financial implementation being during the time of the Borisov 3 cabinet - BGN 154 million. This was followed by BGN 27 million during the caretaker cabinet of Stefan Yanev, BGN 19 million. were paid during the Petkov cabinet and BGN 52 million were paid during the caretaker cabinet of Galab Donev, Tsekov said. According to him, BGN 5.4 million have been paid by the current cabinet. Tsekov added that he had no idea which period was investigated. "As far as I understand, the flow of BGN 11 million is being investigated, but I see a relatively unusual phenomenon of the flow of money from the Road Infrastructure Agency (RIA) to the contractors and it is a payment of nearly BGN 30 million under five different certificates issued in March and the payments were made on June 6 – the last day of the caretaker cabinet "Donev 2", Tsekov said. This money could have been paid as early as March, but why was it waited until the last day – this is not common, he added.