Blue Leader Kostov Reaffirms Support for GERB Government

The leader of Bulgaria's right-wing Blue Coalition, Ivan Kostov, reaffirmed Monday morning the Coalition's support for the future government of the GERB party.

"We are part of the majority that is going to elect the government. From that point on, the government is going to face hard decisions", Kostov told the Bulgarian National Television.

He pointed out that the Blue Coalition was going to throw its weight behind the GERB government, and that this was a very rare occasion, in which a political force would give its support to another party "in advance".

The GERB party recently won 116 seats in the new Bulgarian Parliament, 5 short of a majority; the Blue Coalition has 15 seats, and together with the nationalists from "Ataka" (21 MPs) and the conservatives from RZS (10 seats) is among the likely partners to support a government of the center-right GERB.

On Monday Kostov also made it clear he believed it would be very risky for the GERB party to seek the backing of only the nationalist Ataka party in the next four years.

"If this is going to be the majority in the next four years - GERB plus Ataka - then the government is going to have grave issues," said Kostov, who was Bulgaria's Prime Minister in 1997-2001.

"We sincerely would like to see GERB move in the right direction. We want GERB to succeed. The Blue Coalition wishes them luck, and gives them its support even without knowing the names of the new ministers", Kostov said while predicting that Bulgaria was yet to face high unemployment and grave economic crisis.

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