site.btaZhelyazkov Cabinet Faces No-Confidence Motion Over Fiscal Concerns, Parliamentary Debate Thursday

The new motion of no confidence in Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov’s government submitted by the Vazrazhdane parliamentary group on June 27, and signed by the MPs of Velichie and MECh, will be debated on Thursday. The motion over what is described as the government’s failure in fiscal policy, will be put to the vote on Friday.

President Rumen Radev, when asked about the third vote of no confidence, replied that it is entirely a matter for the parliamentary parties. "The budget deficit has already jumped to over BGN 2.5 billion, expenditures are rapidly outpacing revenues, and foreign direct investment is collapsing to record lows. Against this backdrop, the government's reassurances about prices sound increasingly unconvincing, especially as their own regulatory bodies begin to contradict them," Radev said.

The incumbents can face as many no-confidence votes as the opposition wants to have, but the National Assembly needs to work, GERB party leader Boyko Borissov told journalists in the parliamentary lobby on Wednesday. The head of the main party in the government coalition was approached for a comment on the new motion of no confidence.

Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria MP Atanas Atanassov told journalists that the coalition will not support this vote of no confidence, as they interpret it as an attempt by pro-Russian forces to hinder Bulgaria on the final stretch toward the eurozone. "We will not support this vote of no confidence, in line with our consistent policy that Bulgaria should achieve this high national goal, seen as the final brick in the European structure," Atanassov commented.

Continue the Change (CC) will not support votes of no confidence in the Zhelyazkov Cabinet until July 8. Their position remains unchanged and was confirmed on Wednesday in front of journalists in Parliament by CC Chair Assen Vassilev.

Vazrazhdane leader Kostadin Kostadinov told journalists in Parliament that the government's budget policy is leading the country toward bankruptcy. Kostadinov called on citizens who, "like us, do not want the country to go bankrupt because of joining the eurozone," to gather outside Parliament at the time of the vote on Friday.

The MECh parliamentary group will take part in the debate on the no-confidence vote in the government, because its topic of "failure in fiscal policy" is justified, MECh leader Radostin Vasilev told journalists on Wednesday. According to Vasilev, the debate on Vazrazhdane's no-confidence motion will aim to reveal what is going on in the fiscal policy.

At a BTA-hosted press conference in Sofia on Wednesday, the Civic Committee for the Protection of the Lev announced it would organize a protest on Friday, when the vote on the motion of no confidence in the government is expected. The civic committee, which demands the resignation of the government, threatened to completely block the Parliament building.