PM Borisov: I am Ashamed Bulgaria Failed to Ratify the Istanbul Convention

"I am proud that we have reduced the external debt by BGN 2.3 billion. I am ashamed to have been unable to present the Istanbul Convention so as to convince the public that we had to accept it, like most countries in Europe. " Prime Minister Boyko Borisov said this morning on Nova TV.

The reason for his interview with the television is the one year anniversary of his coalition cabinet today.

In the words of the Prime Minister, the situation with the Istanbul Convention was undervalued and it had to be presented in other ways to the public, as well as passing through the Council of Chairmen. The document was adopted by most of Europe, and Borisov admitted that he had never expected such a reaction, given that violence against women in Bulgaria is a terrible scourge. According to Borisov, the situation was then used by the political forces. With regard to the withdrawal of the GERB from the Istanbul Convention, the prime minister said he was never stubborn, and therefore did not start fighting public grievances.

As another mistake, Borisov pointed to GERB's bad reaction to the outbreak of the scandal with the sale of CEZ. Then he and his ministers were unprepared, he said. Borisov made an analogy with the February 2013 events when his first cabinet fell or, as the prime minister said, "knocked down". The protests were then conducted by the MRF and the BSP political parties. He added that the development of the CEZ deal was very carefully but silently observed. The silence he explained was that any comment could be attacked with hundreds of millions of claims by the lawyers of the big companies.

Corruption is a scourge that every day, at all levels, must be crushed, "the prime minister said, and urged the public to give the new anti-corruption...