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New political season to test current government formula

БНР Новини
Photo: BGNES

The new parliamentary season in Bulgaria started with promises for fateful political decisions. The leader of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms Lutvi Mestan directly proposed to Premier Borissov to revise the government formula. Bulgaria’s Prime Minister specified that the forthcoming local elections would be a good occasion to count the votes of GERB and the Reformist Bloc and the results will be the best assessment of the work of the current cabinet.

“The total result of GERB and the Reformist Bloc must be big enough to guarantee stable government without any alternative, regardless of the separate results of these parties in given regions. I believe that a government coalition can not be divided into small and big parties. That is why we must be tactful and bridle our tongues”, Premier Borissov said.

Time will show whether the political formula will be amended in the future.

“We enter a period which will show how productive the current government formula is, who works for reforms and who opposes the reforms”, the Head of the GERB party Parliamentary floor Tsvetan Tsvetanov said. “It is time for us to make the difference between the cheap, single and populist actions of some Bulgarian politicians and the responsible political behavior of those who choose to walk on the difficult road of a modern and working legislation.”

“The Bulgarian political life will be always a fight amidst a pack of wolves, if the political subjects continue to fight for the biggest piece of the pie”, the Co-chairman of the Reformist Bloc Radan Kanev said and insisted on higher morals in politics.

“We should ask ourselves the question: are Bulgarian politicians able to combine the politics of negotiations and compromise with the politics of high morals. The answer is yes, we can, if we return to our roots and the fundamental Christian concept of morals and public responsibility”, Radan Kanev further said.

However, the leader of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms Lutvi Mestan contends that it can not happen with the current government formula. The MRF believes that the new formula is clear - the Patriotic Front must be out of the government, said Lutvi Mestan and added:

“If we want to have a government of stability and development, we have to make a new profile of the cabinet which is free from the ultra nationalistic, racketeering and other negative elements. It must have a clear European and Euro-Atlantic profile. With regard to the Movement for Rights and Freedoms, we will continue to develop as a modern, liberal party, which is responsible and creative when it is part of the Bulgarian government and responsible and constructive when we are in opposition”, Lutvi Mestan went on to say.

“The top priority of the Patriotic Front is to remove the Movement for Rights and Freedoms from all key positions in Bulgaria, because we believe that the division of the Bulgarian society on ethnical principle is the biggest threat to our country”, Co-chairman of the Patriotic Front Valeri Simeonov said.

GERB and the Reformists united under joint Parliamentary priorities.

“Our biggest priority regards the voting of the Constitutional amendments during the current Parliamentary season. The dialogue with the opposition parties should continue”, Radan Kanev pointed out. “The voting of the new anticorruption legislation, the procedural laws and the judiciary act depend on the successful adoption of the Constitutional amendments,” Radan Kanev further said.

Later it became clear that the Constitutional amendments will be delayed and voted after the local elections, because the Alternative for Bulgarian Revival (ABV party) surprisingly withdrew their support at the sitting of the special commission until the Constitutional Court comes up with its decision.

Traditionally the political parties represented at the National Assembly outlined their political priorities in the first day of the new political season. The biggest party GERB said their top priority was linked with the fulfillment of the judiciary reform and the healthcare reform, which would provide to people equal access to high-quality healthcare. Representatives of the Bulgarian Socialist Party said that their party would focus on the issues regarding the country’s social policy, the demographic catastrophe and the power engineering field. The Movement for Rights and Freedoms insist that Bulgaria should integrate adequately the Roma community. According to the Patriotic Front, the huge refugee wave to Europe would be a big challenge to Bulgaria. The Alternative for Bulgarian Revival said they would continue to work in a constructive manner and an atmosphere of dialogue. It became clear that Ataka and the Bulgarian Democratic Center will continue to stay in opposition.


English version: Kostadin Atanasov




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