Bulgarias Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev said his Socialist party, trailing in the polls, must win parliamentary elections this summer to stop the opposition from implementing what he sees as "dangerous" economic plans. Stanishev, 42, told Reuters in an interview Bulgaria did not need experiments with fiscal policy to deal with the global downturn as offered by the opposition.
"It is a responsibility of the Socialists to win and be the leading party not because it is my wish but because there are many serious risks linked with the policy, the behaviour and the interests of the (opposition) GERB party," he said on Sunday.
"In times of crisis, huge prudence is necessary. The first condition is not to act stupidly," said Stanishev, adding he would like to become premier again if his party was re-elected. Opinion polls show the right-wing GERB of maverick Sofia mayor Boiko Borisov is increasing its lead over the Socialists as the global economic crisis fuels discontent ahead of an election due in June or July.
The number of Bulgarians who want the coalition government to go have risen to about 80 percent, polls show. The Balkan country of 7.6 million has been hit by a wave of protests with people saying they were fed up life in the poorest and most corrupt European Union nation.
The Moscow and London-educated Stanishev, who joined the Communist Party shortly before it became the Socialists, said GERBs economic programme would damage the country.
"It consists of conflicting things and it is dangerous," he said. "There were things there...which spoke about a massive increase in incomes and at the same time a sharp decrease in taxes."
Borisov, a 49-year-old bodyguard turned politician, told Reuters last week keeping a tight fiscal policy was a key priority for his party. He said it was too early to speak about concrete measures because it was not clear what the budget performance and growth would be like.
PUBLIC DISATISAFTION:
Faced with plummeting support, the Socialists response to the crisis has been to pour billions into the economy to create new jobs. Higher pensions, free holidays for over 5,000 retired people and aid for the poor are on the list, too. After two decades of post-Communist stagnation, patchy reforms and corruption, many disillusioned Bulgarians have pinned their hopes on Borisov. He created GERB two years ago to contest what he called a corrupt and failed political elite.
Observes and diplomats say Stanishev lacks the political will to sever links between politicians, judges and crime bosses that lie in the root of the problem. The EU has punished Bulgaria for failing to tame corruption and organised crime by freezing millions in EU aid.
Stanishev said he regretted not doing enough to prepare Sofia for managing EU aid properly before it joined the bloc in 2007 but added his cabinet had undertook the deepest and most sweeping judicial and anti-graft reforms since 1989.
"Every reform is tough and every reform does not bring effects for a half a year or a year," he said. "We have undertaken huge efforts to address the weaknesses and defects." Sofia has so far failed to convict a single senior official of graft and has sent to jail only one crime boss.
Asked why no one was fired or punished over the suspended EU aid, Stanishev said such a move would have brought about short-term political dividends but not results.