Bulgaria's Ethnic Turkish Opposition Sides with Govt on Russian NPP Project

DPS MPs have made it clear their party will not back fellow opposition Socialists' no confidence motion. Photo by BGNES

Bulgaria's ethnic Turkish party DPS ("Movement for Rights and Freedoms") is not going to back a no confidence vote of the government of the center-right party over the termination of the project for construction of the Belene Nuclear Power Plant.

DPS Deputy Chair Lyutvi Mestan spoke at a news briefing Tuesday, as DPS's fellow coalition formation, the Bulgarian Socialist Party has made it clear it would initiate a no confidence vote against the Cabinet of Prime Minister Boyko Borisov after last week Borisov terminated the construction of the controversial Belene NPP, a joint project with Russia.

"DPS's position on this project has always had reservations, regardless of our participation in two coalition governments that were involved with the Belene NPP project," Mestan told the media, referring to the ethnic Turkish party's role in the Cabinets between 2001 and 2009.

Mestan did go on to slam "the lack of an energy vision of the Cabinet" and the "failure of the energy policy", which in his words are more general topics that could be used to justify a no confidence vote of the Borisov government.

"Since BSP has announced the topic of the no confidence vote just a day or two after the Cabinet's decision, we cannot support the motion. There are many other topics for no confidence such as the fuel prices, SMEs, and unemployment," the DPS deputy chief argued.

DPS has traditionally been allied with the Bulgarian Socialist Party in government and opposition but reports have claimed an informal alliance between DPS and the ruling center-right party GERB.

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