GERB parliamentary leader Tsvetanov: Bulgaria’s government ‘is stable’
Bulgaria’s coalition government is stable, according to Tsvetan Tsvetanov, parliamentary leader of Prime Minister Boiko Borissov’s GERB party, commenting on the ongoing conflict between two of the co-leaders of coalition minority partner the United Patriots.
Speaking in a July 26 television interview, Tsvetanov said: “Last night we had a meeting with the ‘Patriots’. The government is stable, we have a governance programme. We have no mismatches about the approach or the way that it is implemented”.
Tsvetanov said that it was not appropriate to comment on the statements to the media by GERB’s coalition partners, nor on Ataka leader Volen Siderov’s claim that he had “appointed” United Patriots co-leader Valeri Simeonov as deputy prime minister.
Recent weeks have seen bitter verbal clashes within the United Patriots, with Simeonov and Siderov attacking different items of legislation that the other has backed as “lobbyist”.
On July 25, Siderov called on Simeonov to retract statements that he had made about the Ataka leader, failing which, Siderov said, he would take court action against Simeonov and seek his removal as deputy head of government.
Tsvetanov, in the television interview, also levelled his latest attack on head of state President Roumen Radev.
Radev, in office since January 2017 on a ticket backed by the opposition Bulgarian Socialist Party, is a frequent public critic of Borissov’s government.
Tsvetanov said: “The BSP and the President of BSP Roumen Radev are one entity. It is quite normal for them to co-ordinate their actions, because them getting into power could not happen through elections”.
Radev appeared to be an executor of political orders, seeking the entry of a caretaker government through the back door, Tsvetanov said.
