GERB and the Change continues – Democratic Bulgaria (PP-DB) coalition reached a landmark agreement on Tuesday that brings them closer to finding a formula for forming a government.
The most important agreement is on the general legislative program of the National Assembly, which will focus on the adoption of the laws that will move the country towards the Eurozone and Schengen area.
GERB, which former prime minister Boyko Borissov leads, won the elections at the beginning of April, leaving PP-DB just a bit less than 2% below the required threshold. Borissov’s party does not have a majority to form a cabinet and is not a wanted partner by PP-DB because the formation claims Borissov and his party are corrupt.
At the centre of the GERB – PP-DB agreement now is the reform of the prosecutor’s office, which cannot be adopted without ensuring the life of the parliament for at least half a year. This is only possible if a stable government is elected.
The two formations reached an agreement that Rosen Zhelyazkov from GERB would be elected as the first speaker of the parliament, and after three months, he will be replaced by a speaker announced by PP-DB if the National Assembly is still functioning.
The PP-DB will nominate the first chairman of the parliamentary legal committee, but after three months, there should also be a rotation. The Speaker of Parliament is expected to be elected on Wednesday morning.
“The list with the legislative program will be public, and the media will have access to it,” GERB group chairwoman Desislava Atanasova said.
The representative of PP-DB at the negotiations, Nikolay Denkov, announced that the talks with GERB are only for legislative programs and not for government support. The PP-DB coalition parties decided not to support a government with the GERB mandate.
Denkov said that the matter would be discussed again, but he does not believe there will be any change. PP-DB wants GERB to support their government with the second mandate, but there are still no signs that Borissov is ready for such a compromise after winning the elections.
“Dialogue is extremely necessary, and it seems to me that two months ago, two years ago, no one imagined that we would succeed in the name of some common goal to sit together in a dialogue. The tone is constructive, collegial and expert. In this sense, we will make every effort for a regular government,” Desislava Atanasova from GERB said. Atanasova added that the talks of the formations’ leaders on the formation government are coming up, and they are the most important.
The first joint actions of GERB with PP-DB were undertaken last week when the two formations agreed to prepare the draft laws on Schengen, the Eurozone and the funds from the Recovery Plan. The two formations have 133 MPs and can easily form a Euro-Atlantic majority in the 240 MPs parliament.
(Krassen Nikolov | EURACTIV.bg)
Source: euractiv.com
