Even though it withdrew its formal support for Bulgaria's government of the center-right party GERB, the nationalist party Ataka has declared it will not back a no confidence motion of the leftist and rightist opposition.

Thus, Ataka has killed even the slightest possibility that the government led by Prime Minister Boyko Borisov might be toppled in its third no confidence vote.

A national council meeting of the Ataka party, during which over 200 coordinators met in Sofia, has decided almost unanimously that their formation has no way of supporting the no confidence vote for the Cabinet of PM Boyko Borisov, which is to be tabled by the ethnic Turkish party DPS (Movement for Rights and Freedoms), and the Bulgarian Socialist Party, and will be backed by the rightist Blue Coalition.

It is unclear whether the 16 Ataka MPs (down from their original number of 21) will abstain, vote against, or will boycott the vote. In any of these cases, however, the survival of the Borisov Cabinet is certain.

If the Ataka MPs decided to vote in favor of the no confidence vote, the government would still be very likely to survive because the ruling party GERB has 117 out of 240 MPs, and has recently negotiated the support of about 10 independents, i.e. renegades from other parties.

Last week Bulgaria's nationalist party Ataka formally said it abandoned the minority government of Prime Minister Boyko Borisov and center-right ruling party GERB leaving the Cabinet's survival to depend on a dozen of "independent" renegade Mps.

After sticking by Borisov for two years, and providing GERB with a de facto ruling majority in Parliament, Friday Ataka leader Volen Siderov formally announced that his formation will no longer back the Borisov Cabinet.

The shift in the relations between Borisov and Siderov had been visible as in June the Cabinet survived a no confidence vote on economic crisis policies initiated by the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) and the ethnic Turkish Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS) with the votes of the 117 GERB MPs and 9 independents (former members of the conservative party RZS and the nationalist Ataka), while its traditional earlier allies, Ataka with 17 MPs and the Blue Coalition MPs, did not take part at all in the voting. (The no confidence motion was overturned with 124 MPs against, 70 in favor, and 2 abstaining.)

The newly acquired significance of the 10 renegade MPs as being crucial for the survival of the Borisov Cabinet has become tangible after US Ambassador James Warlick in Sofia had a meeting with them. The USA has traditionally provided Borisov with strong support.  

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