A new twist in the political drama: GERB and “We continue the change-Democratic Bulgaria” allowed the resumption of negotiations for a rotating cabinet a day after their noisy failure, which led to an unprecedented situation. GERB prime minister candidate Maria Gabriel has a government mandate handed to her by the president, but the 11 PP-DB ministers she proposed refused to participate in it, as Gabriel included them without asking for their consent.
Like that the cabinet “Gabriel” is doomed, unless the two warring formations in the assemblage find some acceptable compromise. Its contours are still unclear, as there is no answer to the question which prompted GERB leader Boyko Borisov to push the negotiations towards failureinstructing the four negotiators of his party to escalate the pressure on the PP-DB with unfulfillable demands and finally to bring to the president a list of ministers, half of whom they did not ask for their consent.
There is no answer to the question and why the leader of the DPS delyan peevskiwho until recently also did not want elections, has encouraged Borisov’s actions.
According to Mediapool sources, the talks are starting again, but the mistrust between GERB and PP-DB is so strong that there are no guarantees how they will end. If there is still a rotating cabinet, it is not known whether it will be with the first mandate of GERB, or with the second – of PP-DB.
There is no clarity and whether Maria Gabriel will remain in the game after the rotation and what role she will have. The co-chairman of the PP and finance minister Asen Vasilev last night called her “the beautiful face of the mafia”, and today he questioned the possibility of heading the government.
Today Vassilev apologized to her “as a woman”, but not as a candidate for prime minister, but added “Gabriel, in my opinion, cannot be prime minister of Bulgaria”. In response, Denitsa Sacheva from GERB announced that the party no longer accepted Vasilev as finance minister.
If no compromise is found to continue the rule, there will be new elections, which will be organized by a kind of caretaker government that will not be under the command of the president, and the parliament will not be dissolved.
What do PP-DB say?
“We are reasonable people. I express my personal opinion – yes, we could return (to government negotiations – note). I will propose this to my colleagues, but we will make the decision together”DB co-chairman Atanas Atanasov told journalists.
The resigned Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov announced to bTV that yesterday his trust in Maria Gabriel was broken due to actions with the proposal of an uncoordinated composition of the government, but according to him, an opportunity should be sought for the two formations to agree on a government.
“If she is ready – to return to the negotiations, let’s try to restore trust. This is the only option that can bring us positively out of the current situation. This is my personal opinion, I am not sure that other PP politicians are ready at such a pace. A sober analysis of the situation shows that there is no other positive course. The only way is to get back on the right path of seeking consent. If anyone has to go in this direction it is not us – it is the people on the other side country. I am not begging anyone, our act yesterday was very clear – either we will work on our program, or Bulgaria is going to an uncertain future. We have never prayed to GERB-SDS”he said.
The co-chairman of the PP Kiril Petkov and set a condition – that Borisov himself should sit at the negotiating table: “Borisov should stop being afraid, sit down at the negotiating table. There should be a person with some backbone here, I can’t imagine sending four MPs and saying that I don’t know what they are doing”.
However, it was clear from his words that he rather does not see the possibility of negotiations for the first term. “When the mandate comes to us, we will not rush. We will gather all the national councils. We will think.” he said.
The leader of GERB, Boyko Borisov, said that “there is a way back” and also allowed the resumption of negotiations, but in order to do so, he had to hear from the PP-DB “one big sorry” to his party and to Maria Gabriel.
“We have always said – we want a government. The question now is how both sides can take such a turn after what they said.”Borisov said.
“I continue to believe that Bulgaria needs stability and a government, a government of shared responsibility with equality of the two partners GERB-SDS and PP-DB, hence the very clear request for political representation”said Maria Gabriel, proposed by GERB for prime minister for the first term.
Meanwhile, the “Green Movement” party participating in “Democratic Bulgaria” announced that they will not support a government with the mandate of GERB. “We are deeply disturbed by the complete rejection of Todor Tagarev as a candidate for the Minister of Defense during the negotiation process, the refusal of GERB to set deadlines for reforms in the services and the judiciary and the creeping Putinization of Bulgarian politics. PP Green Movement will support the draft cabinet only with clear guarantees for anti-corruption and environmental protection policy”indicated by the party.
On Tuesday, the final negotiations between GERB and PP-DB on the prime ministerial rotation agreed upon 9 months ago failed and did not lead to the signing of a common document for governing the country. Borisov’s people claim that the reason was a ministerial position, while for the PP-DB the explosion of the negotiations came from the GERB side, after it was understood that the DPS would not have a guaranteed role for the regulators and the judiciary.
Despite the lack of agreement, GERB’s nominee for prime minister, Maria Gabriel, surprisingly announced to the president that she was proposing a composition of the cabinet with cadres of both political formations. However, the PP-DB announced that it was not agreed with them and their ministers did not agree to participate in it.
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