The leaders of the centre-right Reformist Bloc held negotiations with the outgoing Prime Minister Boyko Borissov and representatives of GERB party on 6th of December to seek support for possible forming of government on the basis of the current...
The leaders of the centre-right Reformist Bloc held negotiations with the outgoing Prime Minister Boyko Borissov and representatives of GERB party on 6th of December to seek support for possible forming of government on the basis of the current parliament if the third exploratory mandate was handed to them. After the meeting, GERB said that they would decide whether to support a new cabinet or not only if and when the mandate was handed to the Reformist Bloc.
Both political forces however think that early general elections would be the most realistic scenario.
The Reformist Bloc said they started consultations with parliamentary presented parties which had clear Euro-atlantic orientations and democratic values and the aim was to assess possible support for putting together a cabinet. Later on 6th of December, they said they would hold talks only with the parties from the current governing majority – GERB and the Patriotic Front.
The aim of the talks is to find out whether it is possible within this Parliament to form a stable majority that will ensure the continuation of the reforms in the judicial system, education, healthcare, defense, security, energy sector, economic stability and fight against corruption, said Petar Moskov, who remained in Borissov’s government despite that his party Democrats for Strong Bulgaria, a member of the Reformist Bloc, withdrew its support for the government.
After the meeting with the Reformist Bloc, GERB said that only if the President chose to hand the third mandate to the Reformist Bloc then they might hold talks about a possible support for putting together a government within the current Parliament.
GERB said that it was not serious to talk about forming a government of experts because such a scenario might involve behind-the-scenes deals similar to the way the 2013/14 government of Plamen Oresharski was formed, purportedly having been an expert cabinet.
On 2nd of December, the largest party in the Parliament, the centre-right GERB refused a mandate offered by the President to seek to form a government.
On 7th of December, the President will offer a mandate to Parliament’s second-largest party, the Bulgarian Socialist Party. The BSP have said they will turn it down.
In an interview for Bulgarian National Television (2nd of December), President Rossen Plevneliev indicated it was most likely that he would offer the third and final exploratory mandate to the Reformist Bloc.
If the third and final phase of the offering of mandates fails, President Plevneliev should proceed to appointing a caretaker government.