BULGARIA’S PRIME MINISTER PUT AN ULTIMATUM TO COALITION PARTNER REFORMIST BLOC

Bulgaria’s Prime Minister Boyko Borissov had a series of unscheduled meetings on 14th of October. Surprisingly, he rushed to Parliament after the end of the working day to meet the parliamentary group of the main ruling party GERB party and put an ultimatum to the coalition partner Reformist Bloc, saying that if they behave like opposition he will reshuffle the cabinet.

At the meeting with GERB’s parliamentary group, Borissov urged the MPs to get together next week for a new sitting and adopt all proposals of the opposition. A request for a special sitting was tabled by the opposition Bulgarian Socialist Party, Movement for Rights and Freedoms, ABV party and independent MPs, who collected a total of 73 signatures for a further extraordinary sitting.

The days’ plenary siting was canceled after three attempts to confirm a quorum so that the sitting could proceed in the morning of 14th of October. In the first attempt, MPs from Borissov’s GERB party were in the plenary hall but refused to register. In the next two attempts, their seats were empty. MPs from Ataka and the minority coalition partner Patriotic Front were not there too. MPs from BSP and MRF requested the extraordinary sitting. The opposition immediately insisted on a new sitting, may be next week.

PM Borissov called for the MPs of GERB to adopt all idea of the opposition, including for dropping the limit of 35 polling stations in а foreign country for Bulgarian voters abroad. The Reformist Bloc proposed an amendment regarding the counting of the “I do not support anyone” option on the ballot papers in the upcoming Presidential elections on 6th of November.