The name of European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen was announced during a meeting of the Bulgarian political coalition ‘Let’s keep the change going’, held on Friday 26 May to discuss Bulgaria’s possible accession to the Schengen area and to the euro, mentions zone.
A secret recording that sows chaos. The name of Ursula von der Leyen was implicated in a political affair in Bulgaria, on the sidelines of a meeting organized on May 26 in the presence of former Prime Minister Kiril Petkov and his Let’s Continue Change party, the European news agency and debate site Euractiv Bulgaria.
This partisan meeting should allow “Let’s continue the change” (PP, center) to implement its strategy after losing in the parliamentary elections to the opposing party “Citizens for European development of Bulgaria” (Gerb, center right). One of the participants, in this case the centrist deputy Radostin Vasilev, took the words of former Prime Minister Kiril Petkov without his knowledge.
Indeed, the latter would have revealed to his colleagues the content of his exchange with Ursula von der Leyen, which took place on Sunday May 21, less than a week before the meeting. The European Commission also confirmed the conduct of this interview “on Bulgaria’s agenda, particularly with regard to joining the eurozone and the Schengen area,” the panel said.
“You have to figure out how to break the rules”
In this audio recording released to the press by Radostin Vasilev, former Prime Minister Kiril Petkov boasted about having received guarantees from Ursula von der Leyen.
“I asked him: What are our chances of being accepted? [dans l’espace Schengen et dans la zone euro]. She replied: “You have great chances for Schengen. For the eurozone, you have to figure out how to get around the rules. In other words, how do you play by the rules?” And I said to her, “Can we have an estimate of inflation with the effects of the war in Ukraine?” and she said to me, “Listen to me, we will try to help you,” said the former Bulgarian Prime Minister.
Ursula von der Leyen would have completed the exchange with her precautionary measures. “Don’t quote me, we’ll try to help you,” she added, according to Kiril Petkov.
Basic Agreements
The other salient element heard in this recording, which lasts a total of more than five hours, remains Gerb’s mention of a purge by the leaders of the PP within the staff close to President Rumen Radev. This statement by former Prime Minister Kiril Petkov had the effect of a bombshell, because Let’s continue the change (PP) and Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (GERB) seemed to forge alliances in view of the final appointment of the presidential members of the government .
Deputy Radostin Vasilev was disgusted with his party’s political leadership and announced his departure from the PP. Several of his former colleagues criticized him for recording this conversation and leaking it to the local press in response to disappointment at not being elected sports minister and for throwing the country into chaos.