EPP Say 'Congratulation, Borisov' over Election Victory

EPP leader Wilfrid Martens (R) and EP political group chair Joseph Daul (L). Photo by the EPP

European People's Party president Wilfried Martens and EP group chair Joseph Daul have sent a joint letter congratulating Bulgarian GERB party leader Boyko Borisov for the party's success in Bulgaria's Sunday early elections.

"GERB’s consecutive electoral victory – the first time in Bulgaria's contemporary history – is remarkable considering the relentless smear tactics and populist rhetoric of the Socialists," said Martens and Daul.

"The people of Bulgaria have again given their trust to GERB because they recognize the important reforms that were implemented by Boyko Borisov's government, under the weight of the unprecedented global economicand financial crisis," added the EPP leaders.

"Bulgarians want their country to become a prosperous, modern and dynamic EU member state and they know that only GERB has the experience andconviction to achieve this goal," Martens and Daul underlined.

The two European conservative leaders further expressed hopes that other Bulgarian political parties will adopt a constructive tone and assist to the formation of a new GERB-led cabinet.

However, all other three parties to enter Bulgaria's new parliament - the Bulgarian Socialist Party, the liberal Movement for Rights and Freedoms and the nationalist Ataka - have already explicitly committed to not coalescing with GERB.

In Bulgaria, former PM and GERB leader Boyko Borisov has become famous, among other things, with, among other things, his penchant tongue-in-cheek pronouncements.

Among those is the sentence: "When I hear "Congratulation, Borisov!" [said in English], I listen no further."

This was given as an answer to a question as to how the former PM gets along with other EU leaders without knowing another EU language.

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