site.btaLegislative Changes Underway to Allow EPPO's Own Building in Sofia - PM Petkov's Chef de Cabinet Borislavova 

Legislative changes are underway which will allow the European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO) to have its own building in Sofia, said here Monday evening Prime Minister Kiril Petkov's Chef de Cabinet, Lena Borislavova. She gave a news briefing at the Council of Ministers, where a meeting between Petkov, Interior Minister Boyko Rashkov and representatives of the European People's Party (EPP) was taking place. The EPP representatives are in Sofia at Petkov's invitation to discuss his Cabinet's policy of zero tolerance for corruption.

Borislavova said that the legislative changes will be presented within a week, which will allow for EPPO to have its own administration in Sofia, its own staff, including police detectives and investigators, who can independently conduct all necessary investigations in Bulgaria. 

Lena Borislavova said that the EPP representatives were presented with a very good opportunity to become acquainted with the facts and arguments surrounding to the events from the past few days. She said that Prime Minister Petkov has presented his observations regarding the systematic problems plaguing the Bulgarian justice system and the management of EU funds, which he had the opportunity to monitor in his capacity as economy minister in the caretaker government and as Prime Minister. Facts and circumstances were presented during the meeting, which are related to the systematic violations and loans extended by the Bulgarian Development Bank. Petkov told the representatives about the construction of dams by connected companies without the relevant permits, as well as the situation concerning the construction of the Hemus Motorway and the maintenance of the national road network. 

Opportunities were discussed with the representatives of the European Parliament and Commission for Bulgarian and European institutions to work better, more efficiently on protecting and managing European funds and national budgets. 

Answering a question, Borislavova said that no political pressure has been exerted in connection with arrests of ex-prime minister Boyko Borissov, his PR officer Sevdalina Arnaudova and ex-finance minister Vladislav Goranov. The three were detained on Thursday evening in connection with numerous EPPO cases in Bulgaria, only to be released the following day without charges. 

She also explained why there are no joint statements by representatives of the Bulgarian Government and the EPP delegation, as was reported earlier by the Government's information service. "The colleagues from Europe clearly state that they are here on a neutral fact-finding mission and they cannot make statements before all facts are examined," she said.