Bulgaria's Prime Minister announces that the country's participation in Trump's Peace Council has no consensus in the government, is not ratified and was “the decision of one oligarch”
In an interview with Euronews, Prime Minister Andrei Giurov suggested – without naming names – that mogul Delian Peevski supported the country's entry into the Peace Council to escape US sanctions.
Bulgaria's interim prime minister, Andrei Giurov, said in an interview with Euronews that his country's participation in the “Peace Council”, a controversial initiative led by US President Donald Trump, was not a government consensus but the result of “a single oligarch's decision”.
Giurov emphasized that this move does not reflect the official position of Bulgaria nor the approval of the parliament.
The prime minister did not specify which oligarch he was referring to, but Euronews and Bulgarian media point out that it is media magnate and politician Delian Peevski.
Who is Delian Peevski?
In a statement to Euronews, the prime minister said the decision to join the Peace Council was “a personal matter for one oligarch who is sanctioned under the Magnitsky Act” and added that the decision appeared to be related to his efforts to get the sanctions against him lifted.
“I don't think it will work,” he noted, expressing concern about the influence certain oligarchs still wield in Bulgarian political circles.
Peevski, a long-time figure in Bulgarian politics, is currently under sanctions by both the United States and the United Kingdom for bribery and corruption.
The leader of a Turkish minority party, Peevski has been repeatedly accused of vote-buying and has long been allied with former right-wing prime minister Boiko Borisov, the longest-serving leader of the government in Sofia.
Former reformist Prime Minister Kiril Petkov, of Continue Change, said Peevski had significant control over the judiciary and security services.
The Parliament did not ratify the accession to the Peace Council
Bulgaria became one of the few EU countries to join the Peace Council when the initiative was launched in January. From the EU bloc, only Bulgaria and Hungary have announced that they will participate as full members.
Romania, through President Nicușor Dan, participated in the inaugural session of the Peace Council, as an observer.
At the time, the decision was proposed by former Prime Minister Rosen Jeliazkov, shortly before his government fell following widespread protests.
Giurov explained that the national parliament has not yet ratified Bulgaria's accession and that even if it does, the matter could be referred to the Constitutional Court.
This despite the fact that several EU member states have expressed concern that the Council's mandate could violate the UN Charter, complicating participation.
The doubts of the new government
Initially, Bulgaria's involvement was presented as support for a plan to rebuild Gaza following the conflict between Israel and Hamas.
However, Giurov said that with Trump's expansion of the Council's mandate to a global scale, Bulgaria's role and the agreement itself should be reassessed.
He pointed out that European legal reviews have pointed to serious problems with the structure of the Council and the almost absolute powers of its president – Donald Trump – without a set time limit.
Despite these reservations, Giurov emphasized that Bulgaria remains committed to maintaining strong diplomatic relations with the United States.
“It is important to keep the partnerships that have worked for many years on both sides of the Atlantic,” he told Euronews. At the same time, he emphasized the importance of a strong and independent Europe, capable of supporting itself.
