My guest this week from sofia is there needs a structure of a minister of labor and social policy why does she continue to serve in a government thats mistreating its most Vulnerable People in violation of its human rights of negations and why has it done so little to crack down on organized crime and the politicians who benefit from. It its a saga of a welcome to convict her own weve seen more than 2 months of government protests sometimes violent when is the government going to get the message and resign were getting a lot of different messages from the put out best but were also getting messages from those that are not on the belt. Actually the protests started 2 months ago but they combine different messages some of the messages those messages that are for better judicial system or more justice and for fight against corruption these are messages that we hear and we do want to pursue in our politics whether from the opinion polls this is pretty clear 70 percent to distrust the government and the personal confidence rating of the Prime Minister has dropped to just 20 percent the lowest rate in years so the crowds are telling you they dont want you they dont want your new draft constitution they want immediate elections so why not give them to the crowd because there are not more than a 6000 people on the street and there are more than 1000000 people who have voted for this government and also the regular elections i just showed you what 6 months from today people dont want to wait for that theyve seen enough corruption theyve seen enough brutality on the streets now the violence has been condemned as widely excessive violence by the Police Including by your own president truman rather he accused your government of actually directing and triggering the violence didnt he at least on one occasion. I wouldnt agree with your strong words about violence because i can i can tell you that there are more than 80 people eastment that are actually now with us to tell and that kept the against them theres been a lot of violence on behalf of the public and what when we are talking about the role of the president its really very interesting that actually its the president that is the the one that must be a king about unity and must be opening alak and that on the contrary is actually fueling the violence and hes giving spirit of hatred thats thats quite an accusation to level against your president but its not shared by the council of europe in particular the. Commissioner for human rights dona me out of it she talked about numerous reports of Police Violence against journalists covering the demonstrations several were reportedly beaten up and pepper sprayed when right Police Clashed with demonstrators violence against germany she said especially at the hands of state agents is contrary to states duty to Uphold Press Freedom and to protect the safety of journalists its pretty sad when you have to be reminded of that isnt that its pretty set but at the same moment you are a person that is your word for Factual Television and for factual journalism and i can tell you the facts are not actually supporting the strong statements as i told you all right now there were more than 80 Police People that are in hospital and being out of that is Serious Violence there also yellow also on the streets from the plot the sounds there were coffins that were being built and a number of other. Access to that is that have been we cant believe missing on the street so the council of europe doesnt know what hes talking about and your own president doesnt know what hes talking about and you have a veto of the you dont like Prime Minister so this is not into his head and isnt it you have a dead end here. Its not that then that adjective it is just that we also see everything which is on the street not only what is what suits elk recission well president rather has long accused your Prime Minister of corruption and links with organized crime hes called on him to resign the government government the current government he says is morally finished and its of the utmost importance that its formally finished as well hes right isnt it what kind of system is this where the Prime Minister is pictured asleep in his official residence a gun beside his bed and a draw in his bedside table stuffed full of 500 euro notes what kind of government is this what are your proofs that this this photograph that actually took what are the proofs of the president in this respect and is this what is to be reality of war just broadcast in picture is it left where the Prime Minister is not on one in the same picture with this. Now its a funeral and at the same time i think that if we if were talking about democracy and if were talking about superiority of law its the court that must actually say whether its true or not both will come on to the courts in a minute but how helpful is it to the stability of bug area with the Prime Minister and the president at each others throat both of them calling for the other one to resign the answer has to be thats not very good for the stability of your country is it. That in italy this war between the institutions is not good for the stability but i want to again to to draw your attention to the fact and the fact that very clear 1st of all we have the country at the moment which has very low big reserve the g. D. P. Due to the corporate crisis its 8. 2 in comparison with other countries where its at double figures we also have we have the in top 5 the number 7 employment and i can also point to that the race of the g. D. P. In the last 5 years is nearly double this is not possible in a country which is that we under any corruption its not possible to see such figures if everything is so rooted them corrupt if theres a human trying to plant now the conversation well im not the only one saying that because you know both drug area and the government you serve in have become by words for corruption internationally corruption mafia capture democratic backsliding and a political manipulated an almost dysfunctional Justice System i wonder why you continue to serve in a government which is so mired in scandal. Because this is the government which doubled the teachers salary in the country this is the government which invested 2500000000 in only in the Education System this is the government which preserved almost 300000 just place in the core if that is this is the government which double the g. D. P. In the last in the last years and also is the government that boston increases the incomes of the people and i dont know like a mismatch about your how long the black and white you know your figures are extraordinary g. D. P. Growth over the last 10 years has been around 50 percent in contrast to remain which joined on the same day as you the European Union has registered an increase of more than 200 percent can you explain that you have the lowest average salary in the you with less than 690. 00 euros a month less than bosnia montenegro which arent even in the e. U. And the European Council on Foreign Relations says its a sign youve made very poor use of the contingent funds why is that mismanagement and corruption or is a both. This is this is not true because the ligament still in the country when we started in the gun in the country was founded then in 50 live analysis expanded it and then let and when we are talking about that the influence of the e. U. France actually decrease of the cell is just the investment of the events is 8. 2 percent for the period between 24020 points if it is also important that the g. D. P. Has increased its 7. 7 percent the European Finance investment it is once again because i am a minister of lebanon social policy want to measure the level of unemployment which would mean that healthier and now is 7. 2 percent and youth of the European Union france investment is a lower we are 5. 6 percent minister last year the Us State Department said that while you laws provided penalties for corrupt officials the government did not implement that law effectively officials in all branches of government reportedly gauged in corrupt practices with impunity that means no consequences so the inescapable conclusion is that you allow this corruption because members of your government and criminals connected to it profiting by it day by day thats why the state department on the line multiple reports of government corruption and they include a bribery conflict of interest elaborate embezzlement schemes for kilmeny violations and influence trading this is full Service Corruption right across the spectrum of your government did you think the world would notice what was going on. I can tell you that in the last year is the commission for fighting against corruption and confiscating of illegal aquatic property yes that damn the bit but eliminated the cultures for all out of a 1000000000 level and yes even that more than 1000 different the czechs and revisions of different officials on Different Levels including local and National Government there were a 1000 Good Government official not a single senior Government Official or major crime boss has been indicted on corruption charges why is that that your court case is and then not finished yet but i can also point to that part of the felt this and i mean once again reminding but of the protest after im beat by a person who is now trying to escape justice from bulgaria because of not bait. This in the country for more than 700000000 you know you keep telling me about what youve done on the subject of corruption but last year the center for the study of democracy in your own capital in sofia so that at least 35 percent of public procurement contracts involve corrupt practices thats 35 percent more than a 3rd this is the kind of country that youve turned bug area into and you still think you should stay on in Government Transparency international regs your country as the most corrupt in the European Union and has done for the last 7 years consecutively. Why dont we call it then you know but omitted in this respect and the district which they have they have announced that for example 58 percent of the respondents in the area say that in the everyday life they didnt met that option and that actually according to europe or with that our country with 3 percent a lower corruption rate then in comparison to 2017 well i dont know which youre a barometer youre looking at but the one last year said that 80 percent according to it 80 percent think that there is widespread corruption 78 percent think that the only way to succeed in business is to have political connections these are statistics that would shame any developing nation around the world let alone a member of the European Union exactly the same europe amid the sense that 28 percent of the respondents say that they are actually seeing that action in the every day and 58 percent say that they have not been in touch with that action in their latin ditty well i dont know if that was you using i wonder if you actually listened to the views of the people out on the streets or are you just interested in digging around in your heels and hanging on to your government salaries to listen to what actually people are saying on the streets about you yes we do not and as i dont know on the street there is no one united view and that is no one united group of people and indignation may be a common slogan plenty but in but there are different people with different motives there are those the young people the people that are actually looking for better judicial system and that want more vigorous fighting that absent those voices we hear and we want to respond to them you have to join us according to the u. S. State department youre not doing anything about it youre providing opportunities for full scale full spectrum corruption within the government itself. I wouldnt agree with that and i dont know that theyre talking about either way that some of the what theyre talking about the left doesnt know what hes talking about the e. U. Doesnt know what hes talking about nobody seems to understand you very well do they let very honest of the country once again and im telling you that in a country where the incomes that being increased where the employment rate is lower and let the g. D. P. Is being increased you cannot eat about the pandemic corruption because these figures cannot be achieved if there is such import thats in our midst and many corruption so you say minister why is so theres so little respect in your government for the free press which is after all the bedrock of any Democratic State the council of Europe Commission dunja many out of age noted last year the continued deterioration of Media Freedom in bulgaria she cited nontransparent media ownership heris mint of journalists including the use of defamation suits against them why do you allow this to go on more than 60 percent of the Media Coverage in the area is critical against the government they wouldnt say that this is this is like a freedom of press Freedom House reported when a progovernment journalist and politician and milk look of was appointed last year to head bulger in national t. V. All the critical voices were silenced so with the Nova Broadcasting Group new owners came in investigative journalists were fired you clearly have no interest in a press that holds your politicians to account to you. I wouldnt agree with just as well because in one of the most popular shows on the get a National Television distracted for example was one of the main leaders of the opposition and one of the main leaders of the protests and actually every single day that a protester on the hook at a National Television and people can free to express what they think about the government and what they think about the media you know get it yes but dont investigate them dont hold them to account for corruption earlier this year Reporters Without Borders accused your government of trying to intimidate journalists it said theyve been subjected to a series of verbal attacks and threats by very senior officials since the beginning of february they talked about the prosecutor general the speaker of the National Assembly why this constant intimidation is your government afraid of the truth do you do you see me being afraid of the truth we do understand that there are a lot of problems and that we need for the lot in the fight about that option and they sound very little about it and have done very little about it in the time that this party has been in power very little 1000 the divisions 1000 provisional the 1st senior Government Officials you say that this is a little and how many sentences and how many centers are many people have been sentenced nobody you think that in the final major crime and also no major Government Official has been said they think that in the fight in the fight against corruption they dont receive. Such wars that we see now at the moment do you think thats i think yes that option is not only something that in this is that a thing of the government left you you belittle and insult journalists during a press conference in sofia on february 4th your Prime Minister likened reporters especially female reporters to turkeys and then he grotesquely tried to mock them by making sounds imitating the way turkeys gobble is that how you respect the free press in your country. Our Prime Minister just isnt specifics in the language and he didnt meant still be able to any of the journalists any disrespect i dont think that this is a serious accusation about that about let the freedom of press well this is your country is ranked 100 and 11th in the World Press Freedom in thats the lowest ranking of any you member country and way lower than countries like ethiopia kenya and angola youre not ashamed that you score so low on these key indicators for democracy like free press and very much a story for the fact that the getting continues to be with the negative coverage in a lot of foreign media but i do believe that if we really object if we are going to see that life again as i mentioned to you before is not so black and white 60 percent of the coverage in bulgaria is negative about the government every journalist yet is free supposed to talk about the government then the the use of social media in the country is really enormous including the us consumption of internet media and internet media is that medical its all about the minister not once a particular concern is your human rights record in bulgaria and the impression that fundamentally go safeguards for citizens appeared to be missing at the end of 27 june the un committee against torture reported that the or thirtys often failed to inform arrested people of their rights in criminal proceedings that actively discouraged by manipulation threats and ill treatment from accessing those rights once more in excess of 70 percent of detainees dont have access to a lawyer when those criminal trials begin and some dont even have a lawyer at any stage in those criminal proceedings to say any of that strike you as fair and what kind of state he running where you permit things like that to go on. Ministry of jus