Bulgaria's Parliament debates a vote of no-confidence against the government

A key day in the political life of the country. Six months after "We Continue the Change" won the elections and formed a coalition cabinet together with the Bulgarian Socialist Party, "Democratic Bulgaria" and "There is Such a People"(TISP), the Bulgarian Parliament on June 21 is debating a vote of no-confidence against the government of Prime Minister Kiril Petkov. It was submitted by the opposition GERB because of a failure in the country's financial and economic policy.

"This day will determine the direction in which our country will head. I urge the MPs to set a good example by showing that democracy is alive. Let us show mutual respect, let arguments win over politicking. Let us show that there are decent and honourable people. I ask everyone to disassociate themselves from hate speech and physical contacts and clashes. Today, we will apply the rules of its strictness," said Speaker Miroslav Ivanov at the opening of the sitting.

This government deserves a vote of no-confidence for its overall policy, and we have decided to focus on financial and economic policy because it affects all sectors. Huge and enslaving public debt, imports rising compared to exports. Bulgaria has the highest inflation rate and ranks fourth in the EU. We are being rapidly impoverished by inflation. The date for joining the euro area - 1 January 2024 - is at risk. Bulgaria is missing from the map of investment interests, said Kiril Ananiev of the opposition GERB-UDF.

I have read your reasoning carefully. The theses are bizarre, Prime Minister Kiril Petkov said from the parliamentary rostrum.

There are record exports, which is the result of missed inflation. This means that some companies have managed to export to foreign markets, but this cannot be on the basis of inflation in Bulgaria. This type of wrong economic insinuations have been made for six months. The National Statistical Institute data signalled an economic collapse. What kind of collapse when we are talking about 4% growth in the first quarter. Bulgaria had higher growth than Germany. Let me give real facts, the Prime Minister said.

We increased the minimum wage, supported families, free-of-charge kindergartens. We increased pensions. This is an unprecedented increase that has not happened for 13 years. We have increased the education budget, the average teacher's salary will be 25% more than the national average. The basic salary for doctors will become 2000 BGN. For GPs there is a 38% increase. For people with disabilities we have 282 million BGN. Zero percent VAT for bread, a reduction in the heating rates. For businesses - we have taken measures for electricity. The debt is falling. The Bulgarian Development Bank is on profit. We are stepping up support for start-ups. In tourism, we are seeing an increase in Bulgarian and foreign tourists. In health care - on the basis of intensive beds we went through the fifth Covid wave without interruption of the educational process. We achieved this during a time of war (referring to the war in Ukraine), an unprecedented crisis, Covid, Petkov said.

The parliamentary math so far points to success for the opposition bloc, with the votes of GERB, Movement for rights and Freedoms (MRF), "Vazarazhdane" and "There is Such a People", which left the coalition and said it would vote against the government of Kiril Petkov.

Currently, the votes in Parliament for the no-confidence motion are 125, which is enough for the government to fall. There are 115 votes in favour of PM Petkov’s cabinet including the breakaway MPs of “There is Such a People”, 6 votes short so far to overturn the vote.

If the vote is successful, a fresh attempt will be made to form a cabinet within this parliament with a mandate from “We Continue Change”. If a government is not formed, the second mandate will go to GERB, and if they also fail, the President will hand a third mandate to a political force of his choice in the National Assembly.