Trifonov’s party hits out at Democratic Bulgaria, Manolova’s group
Slavi Trifonov’s ITN party has responded bitterly to the stance taken by Democratic Bulgaria and Maya Manolova’s parliamentary group about the future of talks on a proposed government, saying that it now depends on them whether talks will continue and whether the country will hold early elections yet again.
ITN described as “greasy lie” that behind its proposed cabinet could be seen “the long arm of GERB and MRF (the Movement for Rights and Freedoms)”.
Trifonov’s party called on Democratic Bulgaria and Manolova’s group to rethink their positions, because it depended on them whether talks would continue.
Since the end of last week, at the invitation of ITN, all parties represented in Parliament, excluding GERB-UDF, have been holding consultations on support for a proposed future government.
“What happened during those four days that Democratic Bulgaria withdrew from its position and suddenly decided to set conditions, make claims and try to form a cabinet without being the force that won the elections?” ITN parliamentary group leader Toshko Yordanov said.
He said that for ITN, this was unacceptable.
“We have been in politics recently and we understand that politics is a dirty game. We will not play by your rules! Mr Hristo Ivanov and Mrs Maya Manolova, you obviously do not realise that you are making (GERB leader) Boiko Borissov happy and rubbing his hands contentedly, because you are leading things to the next elections. It’s amazing that you don’t understand,” Yordanov said.
ITN reiterated that it would announce the names of its proposed cabinet only after receiving from the President a mandate to seek to form a government.
After Ivanov listed caretaker Finance Minister Assen Vassilev as among ministers who should be asked to stay on in an elected cabinet, Yordanov alleged that Vassilev had committed intellectual property theft and violated commercial law and so, according to Yordanov, was unfit to serve in a Bulgarian government.
Ivanov responded to Yordanov’s July 29 statements by saying that no one should try to shift responsibility to Democratic Bulgaria for not being able to come up with a convincing composition of the cabinet.
The Democratic Bulgaria leader said that the coalition had not received answers to the questions they had asked of ITN.
These were whether there would be a clear commitment to certain policies, the issue of the qualities of the people who would be nominated to serve in the cabinet, and the fundamental question of the proposed government being distanced not only from GERB but also the MRF.
Ivanov said that Democratic Bulgaria had not given up on responsibly trying to make every effort for a government to be nominated with the first mandate.
He described Yordanov’s allegations against Vassilev as a “dubious personal attack”.
Vassilev said that he wondered how, after ITN had asked him three times to serve in their government, he suddenly had become problematic. He said that the allegations raised by Yordanov dated from 2013, he had won all his cases, and this had been covered in the media.
“A very long arm can be seen here – that of Toshko Yordanov and the MRF,” Vassilev said.
(Photo of Toshko Yordanov via ITN’s Facebook page)
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