PM Borisov: Let's not Allow Bulgaria to Become a Cemetery for Old Diesel Cars

If we do not take steps to deal with the dirty air, it will be late and we will find a cemetery for diesel cars. This was stated by Prime Minister Boyko Borisov at the beginning of the meeting of the Council of Ministers today.

"I speak to the GERB parliamentary group not as a prime minister but as the chairman of my party that I have created. If someone thinks that the parliamentary group can have independent life outside the party, that is not the case. That's why I gathered them yesterday about the two cases that are currently being discussed. One is to raise the tax on old cars from 6 to 10 leva. I told them to return it, but the mayors opposed it. Because they say - the main attack on us in the cities is the dirty air, the huge traffic, the harmful particles of dust, "the prime minister said.

He noted that France plans to prohibit diesel cars in 2022. "If we do not start taking these steps, at some point, as it happened with the old cars around Pernik, Dupnitsa and Sofia, we could find a cemetery of diesel cars, and then it would be too late, so I asked the presidential institution which criticizes us, to welcome Menda Stoyanova and so that she could explain together with the mayors what are we doing, why it is wanted, along with the already existing sanction, after EC procedure for air cleanliness. Yes, it is very populist but this is the risk. Let's have it debated in society, "the prime minister added.

"You see that the amount of traffic is outrageous, cars 20 years old. Somebody will say: yes, but not all Bulgarians are poor because there are many expensive and new cars alongside. What did we drive up to 1990 when the party of Mr. Radev was ruling? Then he waited for 12 years for a car, and drove only on Sunday or Saturday. Some will say...