site.btaUPDATED Denkov Cabinet Survives its First No-Confidence Vote

The government of Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov survived its first no-confidence vote. The no-confidence motion over the Cabinet’s energy policy was submitted by MPs of Vazrazhdane, BSP for Bulgaria, There Is Such a People, and independent MP Radostin Vassilev. 

The Cabinet was backed by 143 votes. 71 deputies voted against it. 

Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov and Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mariya Gabriel were in the plenary hall for the vote. It was streamed live on the Bulgarian National Television and the Bulgarian National Radio.

In a comment for the press in the corridors of Parliament, Denkov said that the motion for the vote had "false reasoning based on lies". "The opposition chose a wrong approach. It was waste of parliamentary time," he added.  

Denkov was adamant that the government is trying to help the people in the coal regions. 

"This morning I was in Plovdiv, in its industrial zone. Stara Zagora and other towns have all it takes to have similar industrial zones there," he added. 

The Prime Minister said he is thankful for all votes in support of the government. "It is important to have political support. Without it, we can do nothing. I appreciate every single vote in favour of the Cabinet. This gives us a reason to continue and implement our government programme," Denkov said. 

The Prime Minister reiterated the State is in a good financial shape. "The fiscal reserve is in a very good condition, there is about  BGN 10 billion in it," Denkov explained. 

Asked to comment on the absence of GERB leader Boyko Borissov from the plenary hall as the no-confidence motion was put to a vote earlier on Friday Denkov said there is nothing for him to comment. "I am ready to listen to anyone who has something to say and would be useful. I listen to anyone who shows good will and a constructive approach. If Mr Borissov has relevant suggestions, I hear them. When I disagree with him, I do what I think is right." 

GERB-UDF floor leader Desislava Atanasova told reporters that Borissov had to travel to the northeastern town of Razgrad where his party will be presenting its mayoral candidate.

Following is a soundbite of what the political parties in Parliament commented after the vote.

GERB leader Boyko Borissov: The vote of no confidence was actually a vote of strong confidence in the government. I am sorry that so many days were wasted, but this is parliamentary practice, it is in the Constitution. The motion was rejected largely due to GERB's overwhelming support but also mostly due to BSP. Yesterday [BSP leader] Korneliya Ninova said that "Boyko Borissov is to blame for all failures in the energy sector". Let me remind you that for three years GERB has been out of the government. During that time, Ninova was deputy prime minister and minister of economy. [EU funding minister] Atanas Pekanov submitted the Recovery [and Resilience] Plan [to Brussels]. In the meantime there were several caretaker and several regular cabinets in which these people were ministers, prime ministers, deputy prime ministers. And suddenly after these three years GERB are again to blame.

GERB-UDF floor leader Desislava Atanasova: I hope you are not surprised. As we said when the no-confidence motion was submitted and then during the debate, GERB backed the government because we are aware that Bulgaria needs a Parliament-appointed government. Nothing was happening in the past three years when this country had caretaker governments.

CC-DB co-floor leader Kiril Petkov: It was a meaningless motion and showed the absolute pre-election impotence of the parties that initiated it. 62 of the 66 reforms we had planned for this plenary session, have materialized. These are all reforms are that 10 years overdue.

CC-DB and GERB communicate on a weekly basis, there is no other way to implement 62 out of 66 reforms.

MP Hristo Ivanov of CC-DB: In a way they [the government] should be grateful for this no-confidence motion because it showed the lack of an alternative to this government. Only the Denkov cabinet has shown that it can move this agenda forward and implement it. This governance is difficult, it involves difficult compromises, balances that have to be negotiated on a daily basis, conflicts that do not stop and will not stop, because this governance is based on political forces that remain opponents, who maintain their differences. 

I thank Prime Minister Denkov and Deputy Prime Minister Gabriel, who have found a path to follow in order to implement these national priorities.

We cannot go back to the political crisis, we cannot go back to the irresponsible behaviour in power of a President, which we have seen in recent days. 
President Radev has effectively decapitated the Bulgarian system for building national security priorities. His refusal to convene the Consultative Council on National Security in the format that is established by the Constitution and the law is, in practice, a refusal to align national security priorities in the legitimate way. That was extremely irresponsible and was done in the name of President Radev's personal preferences.

MP Delyan Peevski of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms: We have said previously that we will back the government for as long as they keep their promises to Bulgarian people and work for them. It is important that there is a Euro-Atlantic majority in Parliament. We will bring this government down right away If they divert from Bulgaria’s Euro-Atlantic path – that is first, and, second, if they stop working for the people. If the government ministers don’t take seriously to solving people’s problems so we can see a visible improvement of the living standards, we will pull out our support.

Socialists ready with reasoning for new no-confidence motion

BSP for Bulgaria floor leader Korneliya Ninova told reporters in the corridors of Parliament that her party is ready with the reasoning for a new no-confidence motion, this time over the government’s policy of national security and defence. "We have the principled support of Vazrazhdane and There Is Such a People; we are beginning to collect signatures for the motion."

Vazrazhdane leader Kostadin Kostadinov confirmed for the press that his party will back a new no-confidence motion. "We told BSP that we should wait and submit it after the end of the campaign [for the October 29 local elections] because it would burden the election campaign with unrelated events," he added.

Borissov said that another no-confidence motion against the Denkov government "will have the same fate because 'the assemblage' is doing something at the moment. He also said that "nothing sturdier than 'the assemblage' can be built". 

"The assemblage" is used by the opponents of the government to mock the refusal of the parties in it to call it "a coalition".

Peevski called the Socialists’ plan for a new no-confidence motion “yet another circus”. 

The Prime Minister said another vote of no-confidence would be "more waste of time".