Kristian Vigenin: I will refer to the Disciplinary Board of the MFA regarding our Ambassador to Brazil
30 October 2013 News
The so-called "Boevski" case will be referred to the Disciplinary Board of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs due to the fact that the returning to Bulgaria of the famous athlete, jailed in Brazilian prison, was brought to the Bulgarian authorities by the media. This became clear from the interview with the Minister of Foreign Affairs Kristian Vigenin at the morning program of BNT. The Ambassador of Bulgaria to Brazil, Chavdar Nikolov, is directly responsible for this situation. He has undergone a hearing by the Ministry’s leadership on Monday, the minister said. "Yesterday I’ve received a report on the issue and to this end I’ve decided to refer to the Disciplinary Board of the MFA as soon as possible and I expect a swift decision on the consequences for Chavdar Nikolov. The question is a result of the insufficient, not to say – the lack of communication with the MFA on the case, " said Vigenin. According to him, the Foreign Ministry was not adequately informed at any time about the progress of the case. The developments on the case were kept for personal information and use of the Ambassador. "Even if we assume that there was confusion on how and when Brazil will implement the decision of expulsion, nothing explains the fact that the Bulgarian authorities had no information about what is happening.
This cannot remain without consequences, " Vigenin said, clarifying that the law provides various options such as penalties for such violation. According to the foreign minister, there are also other Bulgarian citizens expelled in similar way from Brazil and the MFA had not received any information about it. In the particular case, these omissions became clear due to the great public interest in our country on the Gulubin Boevski case, he added. In his words, the Inspectorate of the MFA is starting an investigation of the work of the Bulgarian Embassy in Brazil, as it was pre-planned already this summer.
The Foreign Minister said that meetings with the Minister of Justice, Zinaida Zlatanova, and the Attorney General, Sotir Tsatsarov, are on the schedule. "There are number of issues linked to the area of activity of the Ministry of Justice and the General Prosecutor's Office. But in this regard, if everyone does his job, we will prevent such cases from occuring. "Vigenin said. The Foreign Minister expressed hope that such situations would not be repeated and Bulgarian diplomats abroad will draw certain lessons from what has happened.
The government has taken all measures for addressing the refugee flow to our country, said Vigenin. They are aimed at both reducing the flow to Bulgaria and creating conditions for housing them until determining their status. As regards his visit to Ankara and the meeting with his Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoğlu, the minister said that Turkey is willing to work actively with us. "It is easy to wave the flag and to create enemies, but we will not solve our problems through confrontations," he added. In his words, President Rosen Plevneliev has assured that the National Security Advisory Council will be convened soon. "The Council is the place where the ministers, the leaders of political groups in the National Assembly and the services can discuss in detail the problems since this is a national problem, not just a problem of the current government," said Kristian Vigenin.
As regards the decision of the Parliament to impose a moratorium on the land sale to foreigners, the Minister said that there is a revision of the position of the major political parties including BSP and especially GERB, who voted in favor of the decision of the Parliament. "I hope that this will remain an episode in the parliamentary practice in Bulgaria. Today we expect the Deputy Prime Minister Zinaida Zlatanova to inform what comes next for the government as a result of that decision, as it is contrary to the EU Accession Treaty. I see that signatures are being collected for referral to the Constitutional Court; it is also a possible form of response, "stated Vigenin. In his words, such decisions should derive as a result of a more serious preparation and better analysis.