Bulgaria's Top Nationalist Boycotts Talks with Caretaker PM

The leader of Bulgaria's far-right, nationalist Ataka party, Volen Siderov, claims the caretaker PM failed to officially invite him for a meeting between the two. Photo by BGNES

The leader of the far-right, nationalist Ataka party, Volen Siderov, declined the invitation to hold talks Friday with Bulgaria's caretaker Prime Minister, Marin Raykov.

This was supposed to be the PM's last meeting with a party leader from the dissolved Parliament to discuss the establishment of an election board at the Council of Ministries.

On Thursday, Siderov sent an open letter to the media, claiming Raykov failed to officially invite him. The government press office countered this was not true, and the PM was expecting him at 12 pm Friday.

Nevertheless, only a small crowd of reporters were seen at 12 pm at the entrance of the Council of Ministries building. Siderov did not arrive for the meeting.

In his Thursday letter, the nationalist leader reminded that on Wednesday, he and five individuals from his party leadership were not allowed access to the sitting of the Cabinet.

The government press office grounded the refusal on the fact the Parliament is dissolved and Siderov and his followers were no longer MPs.

The nationalist insist on an apology from Raykov and to be provided access to all Council of Ministries meetings.

Raykov already met with the leaders of the three major political formations – the centrist Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria, GERB, led by former PM, Boyko Borisov, the left-wing Bulgarian Socialist Party, BSP, led by another former PM, Sergey Stanishev, the ethnic Turkish Movement for Rights and Freedoms, led by Lyutvi Mestan and with right-wing politicians Ivan Kostov and Martin Dimitrov, who were Chairs of the Blue Coalition.

The election board at the Council of Ministries is to organize and carry out the snap election on May 12. It is a different structure from the planned public councils at some Ministries and the Cabinet.

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