Bulgaria: Borissov tight-lipped on negotiations on a government
Boiko Borissov, leader of the centre-right GERB-UDF coalition – the largest group in Bulgaria’s 51st National Assembly and which thus will be the first to be handed a mandate to seek to form a government – was tight-lipped on December 19 on how negotiations on a government are going.
GERB-UDF is negotiating with Democratic Bulgaria (part of the We Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria coalition), the Bulgarian Socialist Party – United Left coalition and Parliament’s second-smallest group, populist ITN.
It is expected that President Roumen Radev will hand GERB-UDF the first mandate some time early in the New Year.
Replying to reporters after being asked whether he would back down from his demand to be the candidate Prime Minister, Borissov said: “I will never be the reason for something not to happen, even though I know that there is no one better to do it than me.
“I will not say anything more because it is not within the scope of what we agreed on.
“Let all the topics be discussed so that we can say to what extent we have a consensus. I participate all the time – in any way.”
Borissov said that when the “expert” talks are over, there would be a meeting of leaders.
A day earlier, on December 18, Borissov described the negotiations as “going well”.
“The less we talk, the better,” he said.
“I am optimistic because what I see on the global scene compels us as a country and as a people to elect a regular government,” Borissov said.
On December 18, Nadezhda Yordanova, co-leader of the WCC-DB parliamentary group and a DB figure, told reporters that negotiations with GERB-UDF were proceeding and the process was not easy.
Agreement on amendments to the Judiciary Act had not yet been reached, Yordanova said.
On December 19, GERB-UDF said in a Facebook post that the need for an elected government with a full term in office was discussed in negotiations with ITN.
According to GERB-UDF, the two sides agreed that only an elected government could stop the series of elections and ensure security for the public and businesses.
Bulgaria has held seven parliamentary elections in three years, only two producing an elected government, both of them short-lived.
GERB-UDF said that it and ITN would continue with meetings to prepare a legislative programme, which, on successful completion of the negotiations, would be enshrined in a future governance agreement.
On December 17, GERB-UDF said that it and the BSP – United Left had agreed that Bulgaria’s political and financial crisis over the past four years underscored the need for a stable government with a full term in office.
GERB-UDF said that it and BSP – United Left agreed on the need to form an anti-corruption ruling majority with a pro-European character.
(Photo of Borissov via GERB’s website)
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