Survey: GERB Set to Dominate Next Parliament with 80 Deputies, WCC-DB to Lose More Seats
The upcoming composition of the 50th National Assembly projects GERB to secure 80 seats, a slight increase from their current 69
A day after the release of recordings of meetings between members of "We Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria" (WCC-DB), today GERB-SDS announced that they are freezing the negotiations with WCC-DB for a government with the second mandate. The reason for this decision was the download and distribution by MP Radostin Vassilev of recordings from a meeting of the National Council of "We Continue the Change".
"Today I spoke with Acad. Denkov, I informed him first, then I also informed my colleagues: We are freezing the negotiations. Everything has limits. You cannot build democracy on the basis of a lie".
This was said by Mariya Gabriel at an extraordinary GERB briefing after an emergency meeting of the Party's Executive Committee earlier today.
"I was silent for a long time, I listened a lot, I was guided only by reason and concern for the state. We are freezing the negotiations, everything has limits. Mine is that I cannot accept that democracy is built on lies, on shaking the foundations of statehood and non-compliance with fundamental principles of the Republic", stated Gabriel at the beginning of the press conference and added:
"I leave aside the lies regarding my personality - this is not the problem. The problem is that here it can be a question of a vision and a way of management, which is contrary to all European principles and practices".
According to Gabriel, it is unacceptable to say one thing during negotiations and another outside. "There are lies out there! With all my sympathy for the valuable people in WCC-DB, I think this is unacceptable to them as well," she said.
"Secondly, it is unacceptable to even have any doubt that Bulgaria is a front. Bulgaria is not a front, but a sovereign state. We have European and Atlantic partners and we value them, because we know that when you stand your ground from the beginning, they respect you. But decisions are made only in Bulgaria. We cannot be a facade for impure thoughts, lust for power and a system replacing the foundations of statehood," Gabriel pointed out during the GERB briefing.
She believes that it is unacceptable to even talk about the politicization of the administration. "I ask myself questions such as: is this the view of how elections are held, if so, I think that Bulgarian citizens do not deserve such a view. There are also questions, what does 'ala-bala with the president' mean without clear answers and guarantees of compliance with the principles, I cannot participate in any form," Gabriel added.
According to her, there is still an opportunity for an expert government, but with clear guarantees of compliance with principles and laws.
"I see that at this stage an expert government continues to have support, but I need more clarity. Until there are answers and guarantees for compliance with these principles, we are freezing the negotiations, I am waiting for answers before guarantees are reached", she stressed.
"There are options before we finally end the negotiations. They are currently frozen, but they can be unfrozen under certain conditions. The apology should not be to me, but to the Bulgarian people," said Mariya Gabriel.
For his part, Tomislav Donchev noted that GERB made all sorts of compromises.
"We made all kinds of compromises. It is one thing to compromise, however, it is another to allow militant Bolshevism to be in power with your vote. I understand the call for compromise, no compromise is supporting a government to dismantle the republic. There is a huge difference between self-sacrifice and suicide," he said.
The leader of the party, Boyko Borissov, explained how many compromises GERB-SDS had made so far and gave an example of the charimen of the parliament and of the legal commission, for whom they agreed to be elected by rotation, the adopted laws and the returned first mandate, and he admitted that what he heard from the recording it came to him like "a bolt from the blue" and even at the first moment he thought that "some rascals had been eavesdropping on them".
That is why he said yesterday that this will not affect his decision to form a government:
"Yesterday morning, before I heard the recordings that were announced by Petkov the night before, I said that they could not influence my negotiations, especially since he (Petkov) said that they were recorded by the Bulgarian special services. This is clean 'Watergate' - recording the headquarters of a political party is the most serious violation in a democracy. But it turned out not to be the case, and this is a subtext to destroy the services, to remove hundreds of officers", Borissov added.
"In the first moment, I also thought that some scoundrels had eavesdropped on them, but it didn't turn out like that. This is not about apologizing to Maria, she has a reputation. Reading, listening to the recording, the party is raging right now, we are going honestly with priorities, we don't deserve it. How do we deserve such treatment? This is what we will now try to explain to the people behind us and the sincere intentions of having a government. We guarantee every honestly working employee: we will not allow political persecution, smearing", commented the leader of GERB.
Borissov also made another confession - that passions are raging in his party, and people are dissatisfied that the winners of the elections were "restricted" to 37 deputies.
"People meet me and ask me why I humiliate the party. I explain that this is good for the country, let's adopt a budget. We talked about a constitutional majority. The question is not about an apology or what they are talking about there. The question is in the way they think, that the state is managed. We have no people in the services for two years. We are not pushing ourselves to become ministers. That is why we are talking about an expert government. You heard what they are saying about the local elections - to be held with their interior minister".
"Now the subject of the budget must be opened immediately, because now there is no majority and we could not agree, except for the Legal Committee, to decide whether there will be an extending budget, whether it will be a new one, but we cannot leave the country in this state, it will be irresponsible," Borissov also pointed out.
According to the leader of GERB, Bulgaria has suffered reputational damage, discrediting itself in front of our European partners.
Whether the freeze does not mean the end of the negotiations to form a new regular government, Borissov answered:
"The negotiations will be unfrozen if we see in them a real desire, as stated by 'Yes, Bulgaria' - with an expert government in a short time to get Bulgaria through the crisis. That's it."
Borissov assured that not once during the negotiations was there a conversation about his immunity and recalled that he was without immunity for two years.
According to him, if it comes to handing over a third mandate, it will not be possible to form a government and then the elections "will be a fairer option for the people".
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