Cabinet rotation or 2-in-1 elections - clarity expected on 8 March

Another day of tension between the power sharing partners in the non-coalition because of the upcoming rotation (when Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mariya Gabriel and PM Nikolai Denkov should switch posts) and the negotiations on whether and how the government, supported by GERB-UDF and We Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria (WCC-DB) will move forward.

GERB leader Boyko Borissov announced a timetable for presenting the party's proposed coalition agreement.

"On the 5th of March, I will present the coalition agreement to the party, on the 6th I will give it to my colleagues from WCC-DB to read it, then we have a congress in Bucharest on the 8th. By then Denkov and Gabriel will have finished the assesment of the ministers' performance and if they want to talk about coalition governance, for the whole term in office, on all topics, there will be time to put notes or rework it, they said. I will leave a negotiating group here and on the 8th, if we have agreed, we go ahead, if we have not agreed we vote the resignation of the cabinet and go to elections," he said.

GERB to propose coalition agreement to We Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria

The co-chairman of WCC-DB group, Kiril Petkov, said that he did not understand how it would be possible to review such a serious document for a period of two days. He also pointed out that Prime Minister, Nikolai Denkov, has been ready with the review of the ministers for four weeks, while Mariya Gabriel has not yet.

"The only thing that I understood from their briefing today is that they will give us their document on the day of the resignation, and until then I understand that the only thing that will happen is that these mono-acts will continue. There is no point in that. The responsible position is to sit down and talk. Yes, let them offer their document, but there is no point in giving it on the day of the resignation of the cabinet. To me, there is a clear strategy to delay things until the last minute. But if a mistake is made, if there is no time, the responsibility will be theirs... Mono-acts may lead to going to new elections," he said.

The Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) urged the leaders of the political parties in the non-coalition government not to push the state towards new elections.

"If they are reasonable people, serious politicians, they will not throw the country into crisis. They will make an obvious coalition so that there is nothing hidden and dark. After we see what they will do, we will decide who and how we will support. For the MRF, it is important to have a government. Elections are always an option, for the MRF this is a great option, elections two-in-one, we are ready for elections, but it is not good for the country, we have to think about the," said MRF Co-Chairman, Delyan Peevski.

Prime Minister, Nikolai Denkov, commented that WCC-DB does not want elections, but will not agree to be a screen for someone to deviate from the agreed priorities in the country. Key among them remains the fight against corruption, which according to WCC-DB goes through the rules for election of regulators.

"Until I see the written text from GERB, I cannot comment. If it contains guarantees that this will happen, we will move forward. But if it turns out that we are again trying to push aside the fight against corruption, which has happened in the past, and I would say is happening now - the justice system is not working well, the CPC also, there are problems in the Prosecutor's Office... until we solve these problems, we cannot move forward as if everything is fine," Denkov said.

Deputy Prime Minister, Mariya Gabriel, reminded that she will not sign the WCC-DB memorandum and expects to see the proposed coalition agreement. According to her, it should also contain mechanisms for decision-making.

Mariya Gabriel: I will not sign the governance memorandum, proposed by WCC-DB. Everything has limits

"We cannot have talked about signing a document that we ourselves have not yet discussed in the party, we have not given to our partners. We have a very clear position and I have already shared it that I will not sign the so-called memorandum. Therefore, we will work to have a mechanism that is shared responsibility and that really brings transparency, that clearly defines the priorities of the country, but also defines the responsibilities for the fact that we want to provide this country with transparency, to fight corruption, to ensure independence of the judiciary, and this should be done with a very clear decision-making mechanism. That is what is coming," Gabriel said.

***

In June 2023, after two-years of election cycle, GERB-UDF and “We Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria” agreed on a cabinet.

They agreed that in the first nine months the government would be lead by Prime Minister, Nikolai Denkov, from “We Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria” and that in March 2024, GERB’s Mariya Gabriel, a former EU commissioner, would take over. The two would then switch posts again after a further nine months.

On February 20, 2024, "We Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria" (WCC-DB)offered their power sharing partners from GERB-UDF a memorandum with the main goals of the government in the next nine months.

Kiril Petkov of WCC-DB said that one of the important items in this memorandum are the regulators, where the WCC-DB and GERB-UDF should have equal quotas. Petkov added that the memorandum will be signed by the political leaders, and by Mariya Gabriel and Nikolai Denkov.

Petkov also suggested that if the two power-sharing alliances, WCC-DB and GERB -UDF fail to reach an agreement, early parliamentary elections should be held simultaneously with the European elections.

New turbulence in the ruling majoirty over WCC-DB memorandum - will there be a 2-in-1 election?

On February 27, GERB leader Boyko Borisov said that his party is preparing a coalition agreement to offer to its power-sharing partner, We Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria for a full government term in office.

This was announced shortly after WCC-DB said they prepared a draft memorandum of agreement with GERB.

GERB first rejected it but then said they would consider it.

Borissov explained that the proposed coalition agreement will cover the term in office of the government, the composition of the government and the assesment of the ministers' performance. GERB also wants the number of ministers to be proportionate to the weight of the political parties in Parliament

Borissov confirmed that GERB's proposal will provide for a rotation of Prime Ministers. He noted that this document would not be a memorandum, but a coalition agreement.

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