Draft for government is in the hands of Borissov

A project for a government was proposed by the coalition “Continues the change – Democratic Bulgaria”, which is second in power in the Bulgarian parliament, on Tuesday, with the hope that it will be supported by the party of former Prime Minister Boyko Borisov – GERB.

Former Education Minister Professor Nikolay Denkov has been nominated as prime minister, but his chances of being elected are close to zero if he does not receive the support of GERB.

The political dispute arose from the reluctance of “Change continues – Democratic Bulgaria” to include ministers from GERB in the government. Borisov’s party won the elections but does not have enough support to elect a government.

“We will not participate in negotiations with GERB. We will not look for compromises in order to get support,” Denkov said. The coalition that nominated Prof. Denkov for prime minister promised during the election campaign that it would not enter into negotiations with GERB

However, the results of the vote put the top two Bulgarian political forces in a situation where they must engage in dialogue to get the country out of the political crisis that has lasted for more than two years.

The government proposed by “Change continues – Democratic Bulgaria” has a very pronounced pro-European attitude. The former prosecutor and current legal expert in the investigative non-governmental organisation “Anticorruption Fund” Andrey Yankulov, has been proposed as interior minister. The Euro-Atlantic “hawk” Todor Tagarev has been proposed as Minister of Defense, and Julian Popov, who has published numerous author’s analyses for EURACTIV, has been proposed as Minister of Ecology.

The priorities of the proposed government will be Bulgaria’s entry into the Eurozone and Schengen, the fight against inflation and the implementation of the Recovery Plan “The government’s program has been prepared for 18 months with the clear awareness that to plan a mandate of four years without having clear political support would be too ambitious,” said Denkov.

He defended the most controversial name in the draft cabinet – Asen Vassilev, the co-chairman of “The change continues” and a candidate for finance minister. “I don’t see a better finance minister. GERB must decide whether they will support this cabinet or not with Asen Vassilev as Minister of Finance,” says the candidate for prime minister.

The leader of GERB, Boyko Borissov, on whom it depends whether there will be a government, commented that the proposed project could be “discussed and corrected”. “We asked them to show us their leading figures, they showed them. Now we will continue working to correct them,” said Borissov.

“If places are found for our leading experts as ministers, I think the government can happen,” said the GERB leader.

(Krassen Nikolov | EURACTIV.bg)