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Press Review

Photo: Maria Peeva

Bulgaria’s printed media accentuate on Thursday on the resignation of the newly-appointed Deputy Minister of Regional Development and Public Works Pavel Tenev. “The Bulgarian cabinet sacrifices a Deputy Minister in an attempt to avoid a Nazi scandal”, Sega daily frontpages a headline on May 18. Another tension related to staff appointments in Borissov 3 cabinet erupted after Premier Borissov appointed on Monday three Deputy Ministers from the quota of the United Patriots coalition. All three Deputy Ministers were appointed at the proposal of NFSB party headed by Deputy Premier Valeri Simeonov, the newspaper further informs. Some public discontent was shown towards Deputy Minister of Energy Krasimir Parvanov and Deputy Minister of Transport Angel Popov after their appointment. However, the biggest scandal was linked with the third Deputy Minister- Pavel Tenev. It turned out that nine years ago Tenev took a photo in Grevin Wax Museum in Paris where he poses next to wax figures of Nazis and makes a Nazi salute. Later, he published that photo on his Facebook profile. The photo was shared in the social networks and caused a massive wave of indignation in Bulgaria, Sega daily notes. Pavel Tenev’s profile was erased, but that photo remained in the social networks. 24 Chassa daily quotes Pavel Tenev who told BTV channel: “I am in complete knockdown. I did not expect that things would go this way. There is a humoristic element in most of my photos. Now, I realize that this photo is very inappropriate and does not reflect my essence.” Former Deputy Minister Tenev told Premier Borissov and Deputy Premier Simeonov that he was not a supporter of the Nazi ideology. Tenev also apologized to Borissov and Simeonov for spoiling the image of the new ruling coalition, 24 Chassa further informs. Standard daily quotes the Bulgarian Socialist Party: “We believe that a person who had the obscenity and the impudence to photo himself making a Nazi salute should not be part of the country’s government.” According to the socialist party, the scandal continued with the reaction of the country’s Deputy Premier Valeri Simeonov who defended Tenev with the absurd statement that when he was young he probably took funny photos in Buchenwald Nazi concentration camp.

English version: Kostadin Atanasov


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