Bulgarian centre-right leader Boyko Borissov (GERB) on Wednesday accused his partners in the ruling PP-DB coalition of “provoking early elections” by hastily submitting the government’s resignation.
On Tuesday evening, Prime Minister Nikolai Denkov (PP-DB) submitted the government’s resignation, which was accepted by parliament on Wednesday morning in the absence of Borissov and the agreed next prime minister of the country – former Bulgarian European commissioner Maria Gabriel. The two GERB politicians were attending the European People’s Party (EPP) congress in Bucharest.
In response to an explicit question of whether there is still hope for the agreed rotation of prime ministers between Nikolay Denkov (PP-DB) and Maria Gabriel (GERB), the GERB leader replied: “There is no hope.”
Despite Borissov’s response, PP-DB and GERB announced earlier in the day on Wednesday that they would start negotiations on the prime minister’s rotation on Friday. Borissov’s political style often involves changing positions depending on the situation.
“I ask my partners from the PP-DB, is this how a government is defended, is this how criticism is answered? Why were they in a hurry to do it (the resignation)? Why is this an arrogant attitude?” Borissov said. The GERB leader said he does not see a positive solution.
Earlier, GERB demanded that the government’s resignation be delayed so that enough time would be given to specify all the details surrounding the government rotation.
There is still no logical explanation for the hasty actions of the centre-right PP-DB coalition, which commented that it does not want early elections because of Bulgaria’s effort to become a member of Schengen and the Eurozone in the coming months.
“These people (PP-DB) are currently playing only one game — let’s show that GERB is guilty for going to early elections,” Borissov said. “PP-DB saw in the polls that if only European elections are held, without parliamentary ones, they will crash.”
Nikolai Denkov became prime minister nine months ago, following a ‘gentlemen’s agreement’ between GERB and the PP-DB to lead Bulgaria out of a two-year political crisis. The government had several main goals, including securing Bulgaria’s entry into Schengen and the Eurozone and helping Ukraine defend itself against Russian aggression.
The government proposed sending more than €100 million to Ukraine just before Nikolay Denkov resigned, but parliament has yet to approve this Move.
(Krassen Nikolov | Euractiv.bg)
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Source: euractiv.com
