GERB-UDF, “We Continue the Change” to seek consensus on priority policies

The first official public meeting between GERB-UDF (the party which won the largest share of votes in October 2 snap electkons) and "We Continue the Change" (the second largest parliamentary group) took place on 8 November, 20 days after the opening of this Parliament.

The invitation came from GERB in search of agreement on urgent issues. The two parliamentary groups demonstrated similarities on the topics of the country’s bid to join Schengen, eurozone entry and the Recovery and Resilience Plan. The first and the second political forces diverged in their positions on the budget and macroeconomic parameters.

The GERB-UDF demanded a search for a basic consensus on priorities for the country at the meeting open to the media. The clarification from “We Continue Change” was not late.

"It should be absolutely clear that this is not a conversation about supporting the first government-forming mandate, we don't want to give the wrong expectations. We are not going to support a first mandate, but the fact that we are in this large group shows that we have a great desire as a constructive opposition to work so that real solutions can happen," said Kiril Petkov of “We Contnue the Change”.

"We don't see this conversation as a conversation about support for a government with the first mandate or a coalition government between “We Continue the Change” and GERB. In this sense, we are not under the wrong impressions of this meeting. However, it seems to me that it is much more important if we find a basic consensus on the various points. Then let's look for a constructive conversation, maybe today, maybe next week", Desislava Atanasova of GERB said.

Even though the positions of the two groups converge on many issues, but disagreed on the budget. GERB said the deficit should be 3%, while “We Continue the Change” think it should be 6%. "We Continue the Change" asked GERB for support for a declaration they had submitted earlier, demanding that the caretaker cabinet submit a draft budget for next year.

"Support the declaration that we have submitted and ask the caretaker cabinet to submit some form of budget so that this does not remain just an exercise in words, but we can actually start working on next year's budget," said the co-chairman of "We Continue the Change" Assen Vassilev.

Dessislava Atansaova of GERB said that it would be right to first have a meeting of the expert groups and then proceed to a decision on this proposal.

GERB leader Boyko Borissov was pleased with the start of the talks because, in his words, they have shown a different level.

"Today there are no losers and winners. There is much more reason, there is much more thinking for the nation, for the people, for the state, than for the ego or one's own party," the GERB leader believes.

Henceforth, almost all groups gave a request that the talks in different formats and topics continue. BSP for Bulgaria invited "We Continue the Change" on November 9, and GERB - UDF on Thursday for meetings on the budget.

The President invited "Vazrazhdane" to consultations tomorrow.

"We have no desire to support in any case any political force that supports other policies that we of "Vazrazhdane" do not share," said the leader of the party Kostadin Kostadinov.

"We need constructiveness between the parties, the negotiations are not between the president and the parties, but between the parties," the head of state explained.

The leader of "Bulgaria Ascending" admitted that he could fulfill the third mandate if handed over to his party.

"This has not been discussed officially, I understand that there is such talk and such, how to say it, creating an environment that this is a hypothesis and a possibility, and I have always said that before we answer the question of what we would do with the third mandate, we need to see what will happen with the first and second," said Stefan Yanev, chairman of "Bulgaria Ascending".

"Democratic Bulgaria" are sceptical whether they would go to talks with GERB-UDF. "Bulgaria Ascending" said they were in parliament for a dialogue, "Vazrazhdane" would go to a meeting if they received an invitation from GERB-UDF, BSP too.