site.btaDeputy PM Buchvarova: There Obviously Is Tension within Ruling Coalition

Deputy PM Buchvarova: There Obviously Is Tension within Ruling Coalition

Sofia, March 18 (BTA) - There obviously is tension within the ruling coalition and no one can deny this, Deputy PM for Coalition Policy and Public Administration Roumyana Buchvarova Friday commented for journalists on the relations between GERB and part of the Reformist Bloc.

On Thursday, the MPs of GERB urged Prime Minister Boyko Borissov to get rid of all high-ranking government office holders nominated by the Democrats for Strong Bulgaria (DSB) party, which is part of the Reformist Bloc. DSB leader Radan Kanev said that this campaign against his party and himself must have been prompted by the DSB calls for investigation of possible links of Bulgartabac cigarette maker with cigarette contraband in Turkey.The Prime Minister's response was that he has no reason to replace anybody if they are doing their job.

According to Buchvarova, the solution lies in whoever wants to be in opposition should actually join the opposition. There is always a possibility for early elections but the current situation is not such, she added.

Buchvarova said firmly that what is happening between the GERB parliamentary group and the Prime Minister is not a confrontation but a normal dialogue.

"From the very start we declared that people will not be removed [from posts] over a possible suspected relation to one political force or another, we evaluate people according to their qualities as experts and the Government is working well," the Deputy PM said. She added that the Interior Ministry is working very well with Deputy Interior Minister Tsvyatko Georgiev, for example, although the MPs of GERB said Thursday that he was one of DSB leader Kanev's "personal appointees". "Georgiev is from the previous [caretaker] government - are you implying that DSB appointed people in the caretaker cabinet?," Buchvarova asked.

According to her, GERB's reaction is well-grounded in principle. "I think that this is rather a message to Mr Kanev, who should realize the situation which he is in and which he has placed both the coalition and the Reformist Block in, by saying one thing but doing another," Buchvarova told journalists.

Approached for a comment on the same topic, Reformist Bloc Co-Chair Meglena Kuneva said, referring to DSB, that being in opposition and in the government at the same time is a highly illogical situation that creates difficulties for everyone. She called on Kanev to say whether his formation should remain in power or not. "I expect them to adopt a decision that will both unburden their structures and make the Reformist Bloc a normal consistent partner," she called on her colleagues from DSB.

Kuneva added that if a large part of the DSB members think they should be in opposition, as their leader claims, they should do it. "If part of them disagree and support the remaining in power of, for example, Health Minister Peter Moskov, let them say so," she insisted. In Kuneva's words, the most important thing for the DSB is to self-determine themselves because there is no such form of governance where you are both in opposition and in power.