Petar Stefanov Moskov ( Bulgarian: Петър Стефанов Москов; born 17 December 1970) is a

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

and

anesthesiologist Anesthesiology, anaesthesiology or anaesthesia is the medical specialty concerned with the total perioperative medicine, perioperative care of patients before, during and after surgery. It encompasses anesthesia, intensive care medicine, critica ...

, who was the Minister of Health of Bulgaria as part of the

Second Borisov Government The ninety-fourth Cabinet of Bulgaria took office on November 7, 2014. It was a coalition government chaired by Boyko Borisov. The government was formed after Borisov's party, GERB, won the 2014 parliamentary election. As GERB won 84 out of th ...

. He was also among the leading members of the

Reformist Bloc The Reformist Bloc () was a centre-right electoral alliance in Bulgaria. History The coalition agreement to form the alliance was signed on 20 December 2013. The five parties that signed the agreement were: Democrats for a Strong Bulgaria, Bulga ...

Career

Born in

Sofia Sofia is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain, in the western part of the country. The city is built west of the Is ...

, Moskov is a graduate of the Medical University in the capital city, specializing in

anesthesiology Anesthesiology, anaesthesiology or anaesthesia is the medical specialty concerned with the total perioperative medicine, perioperative care of patients before, during and after surgery. It encompasses anesthesia, intensive care medicine, critica ...

and

intensive care Intensive care medicine, usually called critical care medicine, is a medical specialty that deals with seriously or critically ill patients who have, are at risk of, or are recovering from conditions that may be life-threatening. It includes p ...

. In 2004, Moskov was one of the founding members of the DSB. In 2013, he was elected as the vice-chairman of the party. On 7 November 2014, Moskov assumed his duties as Minister of Health of Bulgaria, succeeding Miroslav Nenkov. On 19 September 2016, the arbitrage board of DSB voted to remove Moskov from the party due to what they deemed to be his increasingly radical views, his refusal to resign from his position as minister after the party left the ruling coalition and nonpayment of party membership dues. Moskov reacted by accusing them of "returning to

1917 Events Below, the events of World War I have the "WWI" prefix. January * January 9 – WWI – Battle of Rafa: The last substantial Ottoman Army garrison on the Sinai Peninsula is captured by the Egyptian Expeditionary Force's ...

" and postulated that his former party might desire to "intern himself and his family" in a prison.

Political party project

In March 2019, Moskov announced that he would be forming a

right-wing Right-wing politics is the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position based on natural law, economics, authority, property ...

religious conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilizati ...

political party dubbed the Conservative Rightist Unity (KOD), after separating from the Reformist Bloc as he thought it was not right-wing enough. His former coalition partners denounced both him and KOD, dubbing the party a project of "anti-European authoritarian conservatism". The party was strongly conservative and right wing, viewing

liberalism Liberalism is a Political philosophy, political and moral philosophy based on the Individual rights, rights of the individual, liberty, consent of the governed, political equality, the right to private property, and equality before the law. ...

and

socialism Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

as its two greatest rivals. It declared its opposition to

centrism Centrism is the range of political ideologies that exist between left-wing politics and right-wing politics on the left–right political spectrum. It is associated with moderate politics, including people who strongly support moderate policie ...

and "popular" parties and instead sought to instead impose

conservatism Conservatism is a Philosophy of culture, cultural, Social philosophy, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, Convention (norm), customs, and Value (ethics and social science ...

as the dominant social force, deeming it to support "rules and values that return normality". Consequently, he declared a principled opposition to all remaining Bulgarian political parties with the exception of

IMRO – Bulgarian National Movement The Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO; ; ), was a secret revolutionary society founded in the Ottoman territories in Europe, that operated in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Founded in 1893 in Salonica, it initia ...

and the

National Front for the Salvation of Bulgaria Conservative Bulgaria (), previously known as ''National Front for the Salvation of Bulgaria'' (, NFSB), is a national conservative political party in Bulgaria. History The party was established on 17 May 2011 in sports hall Boycho Branzov in ...

. Moskov has declared that the previous right-wing governments' policies were akin to "a grandmother and grandfather watching porn together to see if they get married". He has cited the

Trump Administration Presidency of Donald Trump may refer to: * First presidency of Donald Trump, the United States presidential administration from 2017 to 2021 * Second presidency of Donald Trump, the United States presidential administration since 2025 See also * ...

and

Viktor Orbán Viktor Mihály Orbán (; born 31 May 1963) is a Hungarian lawyer and politician who has been the 56th prime minister of Hungary since 2010, previously holding the office from 1998 to 2002. He has also led the Fidesz political party since 200 ...

's Hungary as examples of the type of right-wing conservatism his would seek to impose. It declared its wish to impose a conservative ideology on Bulgaria in order to oppose what he dubbed the "obviously failed" principles of

and

green politics Green politics, or ecopolitics, is a political ideology that aims to foster an ecologically sustainable society often, but not always, rooted in environmentalism, nonviolence, social justice and grassroots democracy.#Wal10, Wall 2010. p. 12-13. ...

. He also sought to disfranchise former communists and BZNS members through a process of "criminal

lustration Lustration in Central and Eastern Europe is the official public procedure of scrutinizing a public official or a candidate for public office in terms of their history as a witting confidential collaborator (informant) of relevant former commun ...

", as well as those with lower education qualifications by one of his proposals to ban people that have not attained a certain level of academic education from voting in elections or referendums. The party failed to register according to Bulgarian election law and declared that it was not ready to take part in the

2019 European Parliament election in Bulgaria The election of the List of members of the European Parliament for Bulgaria, 2019–24, 5th Member of the European Parliament, delegation from Bulgaria to the European Parliament was held on 26 May 2019. All seats were up for election. The count ...

. Meanwhile, both it and its former coalition partners all failed to obtain any seats in the country's parliamentary elections. The party again failed to register for the

2019 Bulgarian local elections The first round of the local elections for mayors and municipal councilors on both the local and provincial level in Bulgaria were held on 27 October 2019. The second round of the election took place on 3 November, as per the decree signed by th ...

and as such did not appear on the ballot at all.

Controversy

Refusal to send paramedics to minority neighbourhoods

In December 2014, Moskov declared that the ministry of Healthcare would refuse to send

ambulance An ambulance is a medically-equipped vehicle used to transport patients to treatment facilities, such as hospitals. Typically, out-of-hospital medical care is provided to the patient during the transport. Ambulances are used to respond to ...

s or medical personnel to neighbourhoods inhabited primarily by Bulgaria's Roma minority after stating that there were incidents of assaults on ambulances in those neighbourhoods. Due to his declaration, he faced public backlash and was accused of discrimination against the minority group.

Vaccine scandals

While serving as Minister for Health, he was embroiled in a scandal concerning the procurement of vaccines from Turkey. He was subsequently brought to criminal trial, accused of non-fulfilment of his duties through his acceptance of the delivery of non-authorized vaccines for use in Bulgaria. The accusation against him stated that his actions allegedly significantly undermined the Ministry of Health's credibility and raised anti-vaccination sentiments in the country. He was also separately indicted of allegedly aiding in the creation of a bad government contract in which Bulgaria gave away 5,000,000 vaccine doses to a company for free.

Personal life

He is a cousin of the film director Tedi Moskov. Moskov is married.

References

External links

* http://www.vesti.bg/bulgaria/moskov-lekari-niama-da-hodiat-v-romski-mahali-ako-e-opasno-6028601 * http://www.duma.bg/node/91220 * http://dariknews.bg/view_article.php?article_id=1403985 {{DEFAULTSORT:Moskov, Petar 1970 births Living people Politicians from Sofia Anesthesiologists Bulgarian physicians Democrats for a Strong Bulgaria politicians Health ministers of Bulgaria