Boyko Borisov: GERB-RB Minority Coalition 'Single Option' to Form Gov't

Domestic | October 28, 2014, Tuesday // 12:51|  views

Borisov during the "last round" of consultations at the Bulgarian National Assembly. Photo by BGNES

The only possible scenario to have a new government in Bulgaria is a minority coalition between center-right GERB and right-wing Reformist Bloc, conservatives' leader GERB said Tuesday.

A cabinet with a four-year term should also be expected after the talks, he added.

His comments followed the last round of consultations carried out between all parliamentary parties in the National Assembly earlier in the morning.

"I took a commitment under which, if a government is formed and I am Prime Minister, every Tuesday the agenda will be unveiled at a leaders' meeting and discussed beforehand," Borisov told the Bulgarian National Radio.

Borisov's account of how the meeting unfolded also suggests seven of the eight parties that made it into Parliament on October 5 (Volen Siderov, leader of the ultra-nationalist Ataka, failed to arrive) agreed there should be a full-term in cabinet to govern four years in office, the entire mandate it has under the Bulgarian Constitution. 

Earlier this week, as the new legislature held its inaugural session Monday, he outlined three scenarios of forming a government depending on whether he will or will not be Prime Minister.

The three options also differed in timetable, with two of them envisaging new elections in 2015 and 2016, respectively.

GERB's leader also explained a GERB-RB cabinet would count on other parties' support depending on the particular issues and policies in question.

The Reformist Bloc, a coalition of right-wing parties, has now a deadline until Friday to decide whether or not to sign a coalition agreement which should then be sent out to other political parties to enable them to give proposals.

The coalition agreement itself will be prepared GERB's Tsetska Tsacheva, Rumyana Bachvarova and Tomislav Donchev and will include a "general program, structure and composition" of the next government.

RB's Meglena Kuneva, who leads one of the bloc's key parties, explained that leaders taking part at the meetings had united around the idea to give center-right parties a chance to form a government.

She also pointed the budget overhaul and the crisis at Corporate Commercial Bank (KTB) as the utmost priorities the new government should assume.

At the same time Borisov's statement comes against the background of comments from Traycho Traykov, a current RB member and former Economy Minister during GERB's tenure, who earlier on Tuesday morning called the prospective minority coalition "pointless", arguing the right-wing alliance wound not join such a cabinet.

Until now, a "tripartite coalition" between GERB, the RB and a nationalist coalition called Patriotic Front (PF) was thought to be the most likely scenario.

However, PF Co-Chairman Valeri Simeonov said after the meeting the coalition had decided not to change its plans about not sending politicians as ministers to the new government. He added PF was ready to propose experts to take over ministerial seats instead.

Simeonov also told reporters he was "almost certain" that Patriots would back a minority coalition.

At the consultations held in the office of Tsetska Tsacheva, appointed Parliament Speaker on Monday, the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), Bulgaria's second-largest party, also announced it was determined to remain in opposition, amid refueled speculations it might take part in a "grand coalition" with conservatives.

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Tags: Valeri Simeonov, Meglena Kuneva, PF, RB, Traycho Traykov, consultations, Reformist Bloc, GERB, Boyko Borisov, minority coalition, BSP

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