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Anastasia Balezdrova

The Attack party has not only been able to enter the new parliament, but it has also increased the number of its deputies. In the present hard economic and social situation, Bulgaria's next government largely depends on it as well.

GRReporter is talking with deputy Ventsislav Lakov about the Attack party’s ideology, its future and the "red lines" that it will not cross in the negotiations to form a coalition government.

Mr. Lakov, during last Sunday’s elections, the Attack party has established itself as one of the leading political forces in Bulgaria. What is the cause for this success?

There are many reasons for this success. One of them is the fact that the Attack party has never been in power so far. We have never ruled unlike the existing traditional parties, which for 23 years, so to speak, have reduced Bulgaria to beggary.

The second very important reason is that the Attack party expresses the demands of ordinary Bulgarians, of the people who went out in the streets to protest against the former government. Even upon the establishment of the party in 2005, we were the first to formulate our main demands that today coincide with those of the protesting Bulgarian citizens, namely the abolition of the colonial model, which is now draining the country. We are fighting for more government control in the economy, preferences for the Bulgarian manufacturers, eliminating the monopolies, revisions of the unfavourable concession contracts that have been draining not only natural resources, control over large retailers, telecom operators, petrol stations, banks, the major part of which are not Bulgarian. All this should be controlled by the state and in a way that should ensure that the profits remain in Bulgaria. The Bulgarian citizens have come to conclusions about what should be done in their own way. This explains the great support we have received. Despite the crisis, the attempts to split us, and the media silence connected with the party during the previous two terms of the government, we have registered a growth and the number of our deputies has increased to 23.

What will the role of the Attack party be in the situation after the elections? What are the party’s "red lines", which will be its main demands in the political negotiations for participation in a coalition government?

The Attack party will fight for its election programme. We were the only party that came out with a written election programme, which is called "The Siderov plan against colonial slavery" and which is a booklet of 143 pages. In 16 chapters, ministry by ministry, we explain our particular views and proposals for the development of Bulgaria. We will not deviate from this programme and we will pose the issues to which we have a ready answer and a solution on how to change them, and we will fight for their implementation.

The aim is, as I said, to significantly increase the income of people because now poverty is the main problem in Bulgaria. Therefore, we state in our programme that we are fighting for a minimum salary of 1,000 lev and a minimum pension of 500 lev.

How can this be achieved? What is your proposal for the economic policy?

The measures are many:  promoting Bulgarian business, changing the tax, pension and healthcare systems. The most important thing is the state control over natural resources and over the draining of national income by monopolies and concessionaires. For example, I can say that about 4 billion leva are annually exported as a profit only by gold mining, which is a concession on the cheap.

Furthermore, tightening of customs procedures in order to prevent smuggling, which is on a particularly large scale.  We say “no” to cartel agreements of big producers and big retail chains and I am emphasizing again the revival of Bulgarian business in order for the economy to revive as well. It will revive through increased consumption due to higher incomes that seem ridiculously low in comparison with impoverished Greece. In Greece, which the crisis has hit hard, incomes are several times higher. In Bulgaria, where supposedly there is no crisis and which supposedly is an island of financial stability, people are three or four times poorer.

We explain how we can achieve this in our programme. The point is that for the time being, no political party has had the will to do so. We have this will and we will defend our principles and proposals.

It is important to emphasize that now we are practically servants of the European Union. In response to my question, in the previous parliament the Minister of Economy at the time, Simeon Dyankov, acknowledged that the amount we obtain in the form of funds from the European Union actually is equal to the amount we pay as contributions. However, we cannot absorb the funds because Bulgarian co-financing is required, but the state cannot provide it. Thus, in practice, we are donors of the European Union. We are giving more than we are receiving. This is the sad truth.

The main point in politics should be to defend the Bulgarian national interests and the interests of ordinary citizens instead of the interests of the oligarchs, monopolies and colonizers, as we call them.

We rely on the opening of the country to other non-traditional and non-European markets too. I mean the countries of the BRICS group: Brazil, India, China, Russia, South Africa, and why not Vietnam, which have reported very stable economic growth in recent years. We have to open to them and to try to find both investments and opportunities to sell our products.

And because you are a Bulgarian media abroad, I would like to say that we would like the Bulgarian citizens to work in Bulgaria instead of being forced to emigrate for economic reasons to other countries, where they work for foreign economies. Bulgarians should work for the Bulgarian economy and the profit should stay in Bulgaria. We can only thank the millionth immigrant community, which currently is the largest foreign investor in the Bulgarian economy. The former government did not recognize it but by sending money to the poor Bulgarian parents, families and relatives, the immigrants really are the biggest foreign investor. We would like our country to offer such conditions that do not force the people to sell their labour abroad and that allow them to work in Bulgaria and earn a decent income like all the Europeans do.

Some commentators identify Attack as a far-right party. Others define it as nationalist and the definition of neo-Nazis had been heard for some of your members. What is actually the ideology of the Attack party?

It has also been heard that our leader has young children for breakfast, that we are fascists and want to make soap from the gypsies. All these things are clichés that stem from our political opponents and the media that are dependent on the government have been spreading them for years but they have nothing to do with reality.

Attack is a nationalist party that is really led by Bulgarian national interests, by the interests of the ordinary people. I can say, as a journalist and as a politician, that the definitions of "left" and "right" are very fuzzy in Bulgaria. I will give an example:  the left BSP has introduced the "right" flat tax rate. It was the same with GERB. One just cannot speak with such terms, particularly in Bulgaria. Therefore, we do not want to be defined as left or right, nor as centrists or liberals. We are nationalists and defend the Bulgarian interests.

Next year, the European Parliament elections will take place. How do you see the Attack party in them?

Until recently, the Attack party had two representatives in the European parliament. Unfortunately, they have already left the party, mainly just under the pressure of internal factors. I hope that if this trend of good performance continues next year, and I see no reason for it not doing so, because, as I said, we express the interests of the ordinary people, we can perform even better in the upcoming European Parliament elections.

Across Europe and in Greece, nationalism and nationalist parties and formations have been on the rise in recent years. The situation in France and Belgium, and the Netherlands is the same too. There is such a trend. We, as a country of the European Union, are also part of this trend.

With which similar European parties do your cooperate and do you have contacts with similar parties in Greece, such as Golden Dawn?

We have had no contacts with Greece so far. We are about to establish some. We have contacts with the National Front of Marine Le Pen in France, with the Austrian nationalist formations and with some small groups in Russia, excluding that of Zhirinovsky. But we are looking to develop our foreign policy relations with such similar parties.

So, you think that Golden Dawn is a similar party, don’t you?

We have no contacts. We are open and we would like to establish some but so far, this has not happened for one reason or another. I think that there are no obstacles for against that happening. I do not want to get involved with qualifications of the parties in Greece.

How many years do you expect that the new Bulgarian parliament will survive? Do you expect new elections? How do you see Bulgaria in the coming years?

If things do not change in the direction proposed by the Attack party, i.e. a sharp increase in people's incomes, the 42nd Parliament might not serve its full term. Bearing in mind the current stalemate configuration with the four parties involved in it, unless urgent measures are taken to drastically improve incomes, fight poverty, create jobs, revive the economy, the people will not allow anyone to govern them as before. It is perfectly possible that early elections be held before the end of the 4-year term.