Borissov: 'We Did Everything We Could'
GERB leader Boyko Borissov expressed his perspective on the recent negotiations surrounding the formation of a government, highlighting the challenges and compromises faced during the process
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Center-right GERB is "nearly ready" to have a minority government on its own, leader Boyko Borisov declared after meeting European People's Party (EPP) Group head Joseph Daul.
Speaking on the sidelines in Parliament Borisov added some of the ideas the nationalist Patriotic Front (PF) is currently setting out are putting a wheel on any cooperation with the alliance.
Borisov at the same time admitted to having received calls of indignation from Bulgaria's "Euro-Atlantic partners", asking, "Are these your new partners?" Novinite's Bulgarian-language website quotes him as saying.
In the words of GERB's leader, the "partners" were disgruntled with the PF's idea to deploy missiles along the border with Turkey and the introduction of an exam in Bulgarian language for first-graders.
Right-wing Reformist Bloc (RB), to which GERB earlier offered to take part in a minority coalition formed only by the two entities, insists it has to refuse Borisov's offer unless the PF is included in the next cabinet.
Patriots for their part have also shown reluctance to join, since they categorically refuse to send politicians to the cabinet, maintaining it should be composed by experts.
"[I have] nothing personal against [PF leader] Valeri Simeonov, he is a dignified man and has unveiled the points of his program," Borisov added Wednesday, but warned many of Simeonov's proposals are not in line with GERB's "Euro-Atlantic" posture.
"Imagine a queue of children, six-year-old, on a Bulgarian language exam. Imagine how missile defense systems are deployed against Greece and Turkey. Pardon me, but one either bridles his tongue if he wants to be responsible or, having such a program, becomes unacceptable, at least to GERB, with regard to any agreement," Borisov noted.
His comments come against the backdrop of last weeks' two consecutive meetings with PF members at which the negotiators' teams of both GERB and the Patriots made a breakthrough in talks to form a government.
Earlier Joseph Daul, while meeting heads of GERB and RB (with MPs from both entities belonging in the EPP Group) at a joint meeting, urged for a "center-right" coalition to be formed in Bulgaria as quickly as possible.
Daul stopped short of naming the parties that should enter it, but was explicit nationalist, anti-European formations should not be part.
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