Borissov says GERB-UDF inviting DB, BSP and ITN for talks on government
Boiko Borissov said on December 13 that his GERB-UDF coalition was inviting Democratic Bulgaria, the Bulgarian Socialist Party and ITN for talks on a government.
Borissov’s statement came a day after he said that talks on a government were underway, to which other parliamentary groups responded by denying that there were talks, or even that they had received invitations.
The GERB-UDF leader said that he had spoken to President Roumen Radev, asking him for more time before the head of state hands his coalition the first mandate to seek to get a government elected.
The constitution entitles the largest parliamentary group to be handed the first mandate. In the 51st National Assembly, GERB-UDF is the largest group.
“I told him (Radev) that we will need more time and I think that in the end we will successfully finalise it,” Borissov said.
Borissov has not invited DB’s coalition partner the We Continue the Change party, and on December 13 again spoke bitterly about WCC.
He referred to WCC co-leader Assen Vassilev having confirmed to bTV that he celebrated when Borissov was arrested in 2022.
At the time of the arrest, Vassilev was finance minister in a cabinet headed by WCC’s other co-leader Kiril Petkov.
WCC-DB repeatedly has said that it would not negotiate with GERB-UDF until Borissov signs a declaration on putting a cordon sanitaire around Delyan Peevski, the controversial figure subject to US and UK sanctions for large-scale corruption and who heads the Movement for Rights and Freedoms – New Beginning parliamentary group.
DB, on the other hand, has indicated that it is more inclined to talk to GERB, but would insist that the declaration be signed.
On December 13, Petkov and Vassilev told reporters that they would not prevent their coalition colleagues from DB from negotiating with whomever they want.
Petkov said: “We understand that negotiations are starting, we have said more than once that we do not trust Mr. Borisov. If he wanted to form a government, he should have signed the declaration, given up on Peevski, he was not ready to do that.
“We wish our colleagues success, hopefully they achieve something, but our trust in the way negotiations are conducted and in Borissov is absent,” Petkov said.
Vassilev said: “We have a decision of the national council in this direction, which says that the colleagues from the DB are free to go to negotiations, we have no desire in any way to hinder the possible formation of a government.
“Our attitude to the process is clear – we said that we enter into talks and negotiations with parties that have signed the cordon sanitaire to isolate Peevski from power,” Vassilev said.
Asked if the DB entered a coalition for a cabinet, whether WCC would part ways with them, Vassilev said that they would wait to see what would come out of the negotiations and then they would consider the matter further, since for the moment everything is just hypotheses.
BSP acting leader Atanas Zafirov said that they are ready to respond to the invitation.
“This morning I was informed by Mr. Borisov that we will receive such a letter and will be invited to a conversation, I emphasize conversation,” Zafirov said.
‘This is also written in the letter – ‘an expert conversation on problems concerning Bulgarian society and a search for a solution to find support for a government that will solve the important problems facing the country’,” he said.
“We confirm our intention to participate in talks to form an expert government and they do not in any way deviate from the format we have set, but rather a search for a solution to create a nationally responsible, pro-Bulgarian government to overcome the crisis.”
Zafirov said that the matter would be discussed by the BSP executive bureau on December 15, by the BSP national council on December 15, and a final decision would be made by the BSP – United Left coalition council.
Stanislav Balabanov, deputy parliamentary leader of ITN, the populist party that is the current Parliament’s second-smallest group, said: “We will sit down to these talks with the necessary expertise and with the priorities that concern our political formation and the daily life of every Bulgarian.
“We are not sitting down to talk about how Boiko Borissov will be Prime Minister. That is impossible and we will not support such a thing,” Balabanov said.
(Photo of Borissov via his Facebook page)
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