British Prime Minister David Cameron became the first European leader to publicly state his support for his Bulgarian counterpart Boiko Borisov following his resignation Wednesday amidst mass public protests over high power prices and falling living standards, as he paid tribute to Borisov’s strong leadership on the Hezbollah Burgas issue.
In a statement, Cameron expressed “great admiration for the clear stand taken by Prime Minister Borisov’s government on Hezbollah’s role in the Burgas bus bombing”, following the publication of a government report into last July’s attack on Israeli tourists earlier this month found the Lebanese Shiite group to be responsible for the terrorist act.
Bulgarian Foreign Minister Nickolay Mladenov subsequently appealed to European Foreign Ministers to exercise “collective measures” in retribution for the latest terrorist attack by Hezbollah on European soil.
Israel and the US have repeatedly called for the EU to designate the group as a terrorist organisation but the EU has yet to officially respond to Bulgaria’s calls for action.
Confirming his resignation following 11 days of marches which have resulted in the hospitalisation of 15 and arrest of 25 Bulgarians following clashes with police in the EU’s poorest member state, the PM of four years insisted his decision would “not be changed under any circumstances”.
“I do not build roads so that blood is shed on them,” he added, in apparent reference to his pledge, on rising to power in 2009, to raise incomes, as unemployment currently stands at a post-Communism era low of 7.3 million.
The Premier’s last-ditch attempts to stabilise the situation Tuesday, which saw him resort to cutting power prices were to no avail, after his initial moves to blame foreign utility companies for the rise in the cost of heating homes proved similarly unsuccessful.
Borisov’s position was further compounded as Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov, of the majority ruling GERB party, announced the group would not participate in negotiations to form a new government, making it almost certain that elections, originally planned for this July, will be brought forward to an earlier date.
The government-spearheaded Burgas report, lauded by allies the US and Israel, both of whom had previously named Hezbollah as the perpetrators in line with their policy of outlawing the group, did receive criticism on home soil, notably for opposition group, the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), whose leader Sergei Stanishev branded the government’s conclusions “an unjustifiable act that is very dangerous”.
"The government entered into an international political game in an irresponsible manner, without calculating the consequences,” he added.
The EU's police organization Europol, which helped conduct the investigation, however supported the Bulgarian conclusions.