The two formations that won first and second place in the early parliamentary elections in Bulgaria on 2 April may agree on a Euro-Atlantic government, as former prime minister Boyko Borissov’s party GERB and the Change Continues-Democratic Bulgaria coalition (PP-DB) met on Thursday.
Because GERB won the election without scoring a sufficient majority to form an independent majority in the latest elections, it needs to find allies to form a coalition.
The pro-European formation PP-DB has been adamant that it will not participate in a government with the mandate of GERB or ministers appointed by Boyko Borissov.
GERB, who won the elections with less than a 2% lead, will receive the first mandate to form a cabinet, demanding to know who will be proposed by the PP-DB for prime minister and ministers to assess whether to support a government with their mandate. GERB gave the second parliamentary force until Sunday to announce its proposals.
On Thursday morning, Andrey Gyurov from PP-DB announced that the formation does not accept the ultimatum of GERB.
“In no way will we play GERB’s game by taking down the cards and moves that try to pressure the second parliamentary force to make some moves that do not correspond to our principles and promises to our voters. Just sitting with GERB at the same table for negotiations brings us negatives,” he said.
However, later that same day, the passion died down, and the PP-DB signalled that they might present the draft composition of a possible cabinet with the second mandate within the time frame requested by Borissov’s party.
“We are trying to enter the time frame that was presented by GERB. We told them that we have to go through our procedure, it requires time,” said the co-chairman of the PP-DB parliamentary group Nikolay Denkov.
Borissov himself announced that his party did not give ultimatums and that their patience has “no limit”, stating that the governmental programme is more important than the cabinet’s composition.
It was clear from his words that if the two parties agree, it will not matter, even if PP’s leader Kiril Petkov is prime minister. Borissov was arrested by the Interior Ministry last March while Petkov was prime minister but released 24 hours after the Prosecution Office refused to press charges.
At the same time, however, Borissov stated that in the government, “we must bring together the best of both parties, both politically and expertly” – GERB should also have representatives. PP-DB have already spoken out against this several times.
In recent weeks, GERB and PP-DB have held several working meetings, specified a common legislative programme, and reached a personnel compromise for key parliamentary posts, such as that of the Speaker and the head of the legal committee.
The first official leadership meeting was held on Tuesday, during which Borissov made it clear that he was ready to fulfil the PP-DB’s wish and support a cabinet with a second mandate but asked to see its draft composition and evaluate it. Borissov said this should be done before his party gets the first mandate to decide whether to return it and go for a government with the second mandate – of the PP-DB.
President Rumen Radev has not yet scheduled the giving of the first mandate.
(Krassen Nikolov | EURACTIV.bg)
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