EPP President Voices Support for Outgoing Bulgarian PM

The European People's Party (EPP) has voiced support for outgoing Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov and his center-right party GERB.

"I personally, as well as the EPP, have always stood firmly behind Boyko Borisov and GERB and will continue to do so," EPP President Wilfried Martens said in a telephone conversation with Borisov, according to the press office of GERB.

Martens is quoted as saying that GERB and its Chair have the full support of the EPP for the forthcoming parliamentary elections.

According to the press office of GERB, Borisov acquainted Martens with the reasons for the resignation of the GERB government and the current situation in the country during the phone conversation.

Martens expressed his appreciation for the existing cooperation between EPP and GERB and showed willingness to take part in a working meeting with the GERB management in Sofia or in Brussels before the elections.

Last week, Bulgaria's Parliament approved the resignation of the GERB government amidst unprecedented since 1997 protest rallies against unbearable utility bills and wide-spread poverty that turned into a civil unrest against the political model of ruling the country.

Outgoing Prime Minister Boyko Borisov officially rejected Monday a mandate given to the GERB party to form an interim government, urging the two major opposition parties, the Bulgarian Socialist Party, BSP and the ethnic Turkish Movement for Rights and Freedoms, DPS, to demonstrate their potential.