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“No agreement was reached”, GERB said.
News Based on facts, either observed and verified directly by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
Campaign for Bulgaria’s early parliamentary elections in Sofia [EPA-EFE/VASSIL DONEV]
Bulgaria’s leading centre-right GERB party announced that it was ending negotiations to form a government with the mandate of the first political force due to disagreement over the nomination for prime minister.
Negotiations on the possible formation of a joint government between GERB (EPP), Democratic Bulgaria (EPP), Bulgarian Socialist Party (PES) and There is Such a People (ECR) have been going on for two weeks.
“No agreement was reached with Democratic Bulgaria on the personal composition of a future government and the name of the candidate for prime minister. This became clear at today’s meeting of the negotiating teams of GERB, Democratic Bulgaria, BSP, and There is Such a People”, GERB said.
According to GERB, the reason is the disagreement of Democratic Bulgaria to have the cabinet headed by Rosen Zhelyazkov, who has worked with Boyko Borissov for nearly 20 years.
“After the refusal of Democratic Bulgaria to support the first nomination of GERB Boyko Borissov for prime minister, GERB nominated Rosen Zhelyazkov. Today, Democratic Bulgaria rejected the second nomination. Because of this, GERB terminates the negotiations,” the largest party announced.
GERB’s announcement means that Bulgaria is very likely heading for an eighth parliamentary election in four years, as the other parties in parliament cannot form a government without GERB.
Later, Democratic Bulgaria announced that GERB had withdrawn from negotiations, although the draft coalition agreement was at a very advanced stage.
The party insisted that the country’s next prime minister should be a non-party figure, but GERB did not accept this.
“For Democratic Bulgaria, the issue of the prime minister’s personality and the government’s personnel has always been a condition of a completed agreement and a leadership meeting. This position was explicitly confirmed once again by us at today’s meeting, as was our position on a non-partisan, mutually acceptable figure for the prime minister,” the party said.
Last October, Bulgarians voted for the seventh time in parliamentary elections in three years, but the results showed a deeply divided parliament with no easy options for forming a government.
Former Prime Minister Boyko Borissov’s GERB party won the election with 24% of the vote and needed the support of at least two other political formations to elect a regular government.
The red line in the current Bulgarian parliament is the attitude of the political players towards Delyan Peevski, who has been sanctioned by the US and UK for corruption, and his political force, MRF – New Beginning.
At the end of December, ALDE and Renew Europe announced that they were launching a procedure to expel MRF from their ranks after Peevski managed to take over the party from its founder Ahmed Dogan.
Peevski anticipated the final decision of the European political formations and announced that MRF – New Beginning was leaving the Liberal International and the group in the European Parliament.
(Krassen Nikolov | Euractiv.bg)
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