Pro-Russian party Vazrazhdane and the populist ITN party are preparing a vote of no confidence in the Bulgarian government before local elections on 29 October.
The two formations are also looking for help from the other pro-Russian party in the Bulgarian parliament – the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP).
“We have started consultations for a no-confidence vote. We already have the support of ITN. We have also talked with the BSP”, the leader of Vazrazhdane Kostadin Kostadinov told journalists in parliament. He added that the BSP told them that they had to go through internal party procedures, after which they would answer whether they would participate in the vote of no confidence or not.
Vazrazhdane, ITN and BSP are in opposition to the ruling majority, formed by the former long-serving Prime Minister Boyko Borissov and the coalition of the pro-European parties We Continue the Change and Democratic Bulgaria.
Turkish minority party DPS also supports the government with Prime Minister Nilolay Denkov, who follows pro-European politics and aims to get Bulgaria into the Schengen area and the Eurozone.
“We will wait to see what the BSP’s decision will be, and on Thursday or Friday at the latest, the vote of no confidence will be submitted because of the government’s overall policy in the energy sector and the destruction of the Bulgarian coal industry,” Kostadinov said. Since last Friday, miners have been blocking highways and key roads in Bulgaria in a protest against the government – which officially submitted their territorial Just Transition Plans to the EU Commission. Kostadinov’s party tried to gain political benefits.
According to the Constitution, a vote of no confidence in the Council of Ministers can be proposed by at least 48 MPs, but the proposal is only adopted if at least 121 out of 240 MPs vote in its favour. Since Vazrazhdane has 37 MPs, while the BSP and ITN have 23 and 11, respectively, the parties will be able to propose a vote but will not have enough MPs to topple the government.
“We will support the government at this moment,” Desislava Atanasova, chairwoman of the GERB parliamentary group, commented to journalists.
“I don’t know what their motives are, but if they are on the topic of energy, I believe that at the moment, there is no need for additional tension. The Bulgarian energy industry needs calm. It needs the second tranche of the Recovery and Sustainability Plan and guarantees that’s exactly what the government’s support is for,” she pointed out.
(Krassen Nikolov | Euractiv.bg)
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