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Peevski is considered an obstacle to forming a government.
News Based on facts, either observed and verified directly by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
ALDE “understands why parties in Bulgaria have sought to establish a cordon sanitaire” around Magnitsky-sanctioned Delyan Peevski and his political force, the European political party told Euractiv on Friday. [NurPhoto via Getty Images]
The Alliance of Liberals in Europe (ALDE) suggested a “cordon sanitaire” against Delyan Peevski, the Movement for Rights and Freedoms–New Beginning (DPS-NN) leader facing US sanctions.
ALDE “understands why parties in Bulgaria have sought to establish a cordon sanitaire” around Magnitsky-sanctioned Delyan Peevski and his political force, the European political party told Euractiv on Friday.
Peevski is seen by political experts as the main obstacle preventing Bulgaria from forming a government after the 26 October elections. In June 2021, the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned Peevski for corruption. He is also subject to similar sanctions by the UK.
Peevski’s DPS-NN won 11% of the vote in the recent parliamentary elections – the seventh in just four years.
In July, Peevski challenged Ahmed Dogan, the historic leader of the mainly ethnic Turkish Movement for Rights and Freedoms, for control of the party. As a result, the party split, with Peevski’s formation winning 11% and Dogan’s party, now called the Alliance for Rights and Freedoms, winning just 7%.
President Rumen Radev, among others, made allegations of massive vote-buying and fraud in the counting of ballots in favour of Peevski’s party, but no investigations were carried out.
The chances of forming a government depend largely on the two largest political forces, Boyko Borissov’s GERB (EPP) party, which won 25% of the vote, and the pro-European liberal coalition We Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria (PP-DB), which came second with 14.3%.
The PP-DB said that it would support Borissov if he agreed to a so-called “cordon sanitaire” against Peevski. Borissov has resisted this call, possibly because of his past close ties with Peevski.
Asked by Euractiv whether Peevski’s party was still a member of ALDE, Didrik de Schaetzen, secretary-general of ALDE, said that it was the signature of Dzhevdet Chakarov, a politician on Dogan’s side, that appeared on the submitted form confirming the Movement for Rights and Freedoms party’s membership of ALDE.
The ALDE party is “impatiently awaiting legal clarity on the cases before the courts relating to the leadership of the MRF party, which is as yet not pronounced”, he said.
More interestingly, de Schaetzen clearly supported the idea of a cordon sanitaire against Peevski.
“We are aware of the latest on the attempts to form the government, which we suspect will be complicated since it took 11 rounds to elect a speaker of the Parliament, and we understand why parties in Bulgaria have sought to establish a cordon sanitaire; which would be welcomed and would respond to the same concerns, as previously reported, of some of the current ALDE member parties across Europe,” said de Schaetzen.
In July, ALDE threatened to expel the MRF over the role of Magnitsky-sanctioned Peevski in the party. At the time, several influential liberal parties sent a letter to ALDE demanding that it take a position on Peevski.
Euractiv sent questions to the liberal Renew group about the status of two MEPs representing Peevski but did not receive a reply.
(Georgi Gotev | Euractiv.bg)
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