We Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria candidate Prime Minister Nikolai Denkov, speaking on June 1 after several hours of negotiations with GERB-UDF on a proposed government, told reporters: “The process is not over yet, we are making progress today, have a little more patience”.
The negotiations on June 1 went on for close to five hours.
The talks involved GERB’s Tomislav Donchev and Maria Gabriel, and on the side of WCC-DB, Denkov, Atanas Atanassov, Kiril Petkov, Hristo Ivanov and Vladislav Panev.
Reportedly, the participants agreed that the content of the discussions should first be discussed internally by the parties involved, and only then disclosed to the media.
Denkov denied rumours that the post of Interior Minister would go to GERB-UDF: “There is no such thing, we are looking for an expert”.
At this stage, it is understood that there is agreement on some of the ministries, with the line-up closely resembling that announced by WCC-DB before the first-mandate phase.
It remains unclear whether Assen Vassilev will be retained on the list as candidate Finance Minister. Earlier, GERB demanded that Vassilev be removed from the candidates list, and that the list should be made up solely of experts.
“From the point of view of the Budget, I don’t know of a better specialist than him (Vassilev),” Denkov said.
On the morning of June 1, GERB-UDF leader Boiko Borissov expressed optimism about a proposed government.
Borissov said that he believed that Denkov and Gabriel were close to making decisions “but still, until they agree on everything, nothing is agreed”.
The GERB-UDF leader said that his coalition and Hristo Ivanov’s Yes Bulgaria wanted a government made up of experts, but WCC “wants to take responsibility themselves, including politicians”.
“We, with Yes Bulgaria, are responding to their demands,” said Borissov, who appeared to indicate that while he was not particularly happy with the situation, he was inclined to accept it.
In the National Assembly on Thursday, proceedings in the morning were adjourned after a scuffle between pro-Kremlin party Vuzrazhdane MPs and WCC MPs, after Vuzrazhdane took offence at WCC MPs’ comments about them.
President Roumen Radev continued his verbal attacks, saying on June 1: “I do not expect the kiss between Borissov and Petkov to give birth to something other than disgust, and this does not lead to trust and sustainable solutions”. Radev opposes the plan for a WCC-DB + GERB-UDF government.
Source : Sofia Globe
