PM questioned in Parliament says: Measures against coronavirus are effective

Bulgaria is one of the countries with the lowest number of coronavirus cases and deaths, Bulgaria’s Prime Minister Boyko Borissov announced during a PM question time in Parliament on April 28 . He answered questions on the measures the government has undertaken in the health, social and economic areas in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. The extraordinary sitting to hear the PM was called at the request of the opposition Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP).

Prime Minister Borissov reminded that the measures taken against the coronavirus are effective and timely, so they produce good results and highlighted that they are some of the most liberal in Europe.

The ruling GERB's assessment is that the government and the relevant institutions are doing very well in the fight against the spread of the coronavirus.

On the contrary, the opposition BSP believes that there is no clear plan of action, and that the government acts chaotically.

The Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) gave a very good assessment of the measures taken by the government, especially the 60/40 measure (in which the state pays 60% of the salary of workers kept on by companies), but insisted on drawing up an action plan once the pandemic had passed.

United Patriots, the minority partner in the ruling coalition, urged for turning away from political interests and called for all to act together and deal with the coronavirus situation in our country.

Businessman Vesselin Mareshki’s Volya party said the hearing today was unnecessary and gave a good assessment of the measures taken so far.

Boyko Borissov, Prime Minister: The fact that we have the lowest number of infected with the virus and the lowest death rate means we have dealt with the aspect related to health. Is the measure 60/40 not a grant? More than 100,000 workers... 173 million grants to micro firms... You, as an opposition, instead of telling me, "Don't spend the money so that we can implement our plans in time," you are now pushing me to take out the billions, give them away, and then you be shocked and shout: " But they gave the money. " Which of the two should we do?

Alexander Nenkov, ruling GERB: The government is adamant and all people involved in this battle are doing their best.

Kornelia Ninova, opposition, socialist party BSP: There is no plan for getting out of the crisis. This is the news today. Mr. Borissov, we understand from the hearing that you have no specific answer to any of the questions. You don't have a clear plan for how to go ahead from now on. Based on that, you make chaotic decisions that you change every day and sometimes within the same day. You instill fear in the people in order to rule them in subjection. European leaders say “we will never leave you alone”, our leader says “I will work to save you”, but in fact he wants to save his own governance.

Mustafa Carradaiy, MRF: From now on, the crisis requires a new approach. A plan for management of the epidemiological crisis and a way out of the crisis is needed.

Iskren Vesselinov, United Patriots: Let us try to strive less for appearances on TV channels and stop convincing ourselves how bad things are. Let us make things work better.

Veselin Mareshki, Volya party: Democracy is in danger, not because there is no parliamentary control at the time of the state of emergency, but because the Parliament is currently a hostage to an intraparty discord, inside the BSP. We do not know why you, being a strong man, physically, mentally and politically strong, what made us follow the whim of a manufactured political leader (referring to the BSP leader who was the initiator of today’s hearing) and participate in this circus?

After the plenary hearing, Prime Minister Borissov told the media that a law was being drafted aimed at keeping in place the coronavirus measures, but without a state of emergency.

Boyko Borissov, Prime Minister: Many measures are in this law. If Parliament can adopt this, we are working on it, a law that includes only anti-epidemic measures.the idea is remove the word "State of Emergency". The measures here are still the softest measures compared to other European countries. The health minister's orders, which now are issued as rulings, if there is a law, will be legitimate without a state of emergency.

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Today’s extraordinary sitting was scheduled at the request of the opposition Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP). The only item on the agenda was a hearing of Prime Minister Boyko Borissov on the effectiveness of the health, economic and social measures taken against the coronavirus pandemic.

The hearing was initially scheduled to take place on April 21, but failed due to lack of quorum.

The opposition BSP blamed the Prime Minister for "hiding from people's issues" and no plan for a way out of the crisis. The ruling GERB responded saying that the Socialists were seeking a political PR.