site.btaMPs Comment on GERB, MRF-New Beginning Joint Commitment to Full Governance Mandate

GERB-UDF and the MRF-New Beginning Wednesday put out a joint statement to confirm a "commitment to upholding the agreed legislative and governance programme aimed at ensuring stability and continuity in the interest of citizens and the state". In a Facebook post GERB published two photos, one of the MPs of the two parliamentary groups and the other of the two leaders, Boyko Borissov of GERB and Delyan Peevski of MRF - New Beginning. They declared support for a full governing mandate and the fulfilment of commitments related to Bulgaria’s Euro-Atlantic orientation.

At a meeting of the Joint Governance Council on Tuesday, GERB and There Is Such a People (TISP) raised the issue of a rotating chairmanship of the National Assembly. Earlier this week, the leader of MRF-New Beginning, Delyan Peevski, reiterated his position of full support for the government during a conversation with Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov.

Commenting on his meeting with MRF - New Beginning, Borissov told journalists in Parliament that he had invited Peevski and his party and asked them "on what condition the current government can continue to exist". According to him, Peevski has consistently supported the Cabinet of Rosen Zhelyazkov. In Borissov's words, "they will back the Cabinet without asking anything in exchange". He dismissed allegations that he is seeking Peevski's support to make him Prime Minister. "I am not aiming to become Prime Minister. Three times is enough for me. It would have been good if I was Prime Minister but we don't want to overwhelm people and the parties with our presence".  

Borissov claimed that as GERB's government coalition partners were unsupportive, what he called "a Cabinet reformatting" had to be called off. "When you reformat something, you need everybody's support," he said. The "Cabinet reformatting" phrase came from his remarks to the party leadership in the wake of local elections in Pazardzhik where MRF-New Beginning won the most votes and GERB slumped to sixth position. In his words, Borissov questioned the place of GERB in the current government and suggested that the party may be withdrawing.

Borissov was adamant that the position of Parliament leader should be rotated between the three government coalition partners, with one-year stints for each. GERB's nominee will be Raya Nazaryan. 

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Transport and Communications Grozdan Karadjov said that the government has come together with the intention of serving a full term. "I'm not very good at political commentary, but overall, we have gathered to serve a full mandate, which should be completed at the same pace we're working at now," Karadjov stated. He added that the calls he had heard so far were for a reorganization of the government’s work. "The idea is to make the team more stable, more efficient, and capable of delivering better results, because up until now, it feels like we’re just struggling along - and people are already demanding real outcomes," Karadjov said .

MP Ivaylo Mirchev of Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB) said that GERB and MRF - New Beginning are one party now. "It is dangerous for our country because from now on  Peevski will run Bulgaria single-handedly. We will put up strong resistance to that," he said. Mirchev also commented that "the captains are afraid to even rearrange the deckchairs on the Titanic". "Borissov is finished, gone into retirement. Peevski is making the decisions now," the MP said.

Vazrazhdane leader Kostadin Kostadinov claimed that GERB had effectively surrendered to Peevski. He also stated that his party would not support a rotational presidency of the National Assembly. Kostadinov said that MPs from Vazrazhdane are drafting legislative amendments to bar individuals sanctioned under the US Global Magnitsky Act from holding senior government or party positions in Bulgaria. "For us, it is more than logical that the Euro-Atlantic crowd in this parliament would support such a bill. The Global Magnitsky Act targets corruption, the very thing GERB, ARF, CC-DB, and all the Euro-Atlantic metastases in this parliament claim to be fighting against," he said. According to him, there will be two separate bills, one amending the Electoral Code and another revising the Political Parties Act. “Bulgaria currently has a political party whose leadership is chaired by a person sanctioned under the Magnitsky Act. This has already become a banal reality,” Kostadinov added.

MECh Party leader Radostin Vasilev believes that the opinions of GERB Leader Boyko Borissov, whose election-winning party is supposed to dominate the coalition government, carry no weight. “Boyko Borissov is finished, his word means nothing,” Vasilev told journalists. “Whatever he says, the opposite happens – [National Assembly Chair Nataliya] Kiselova won’t be replaced, and no ministers will be reshuffled,” Vasilev added. According to Vasilev, there is now an official GERB–MRF coalition, in which Borissov had personally secured support for Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov. “It was clear to me last week that they were going to clip his wings – and he’d come out scrambling to justify the nonsense he says,” Vasilev went on. He called on the MPs from TISP to clarify whether they will join the new parliamentary majority, which he sees as a four-party coalition after the Borissov-Peevski declaration. As for BSP-United Left, the third member of the official coalition, Vasilev added, “It’s clear: they’re owned by the MRF.”

Velichie Deputy Floor Leader Krasimira Katincharova said that the party will not support a rotation of the Parliament Chairperson. "It does not matter which members of the ruling coalition will take the post, this will simply reopen the debate surrounding the difficult election of the Parliament Chair," she emphasized. Katincharova added that the parties in the ruling coalition would negotiate to maintain what she described as "the humiliating state of our country", where the population is rapidly becoming poorer, the deficit is set to become unmanageable, and inflation is a fact. 

CC-DB Co-Floor Leader Nikolay Denkov said that it is important for the National Assembly to start working, to submit a budget, to adopt tax laws and laws on the salaries of healthcare experts. Denkov expressed hope that Parliament will resume its work and pointed out that there is an ongoing information blackout. The MP reported that CC-DB has held no talks with the ruling majority on reformatting the government. He added: "We can see at the moment that the government is so unstable that any attempt to fix something could lead to the collapse of the system."