President Radev held consultations with the second largest parliamentary group WCC-DB

President Rumen Radev on April 20 held consultations with representatives of the second largest political force in the 49th Parliament, the coalition "We Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria", to discuss possibilities for forming a government.

The meeting took place after the President held the same consultations with the first parliamentary force GERB-UDF.

"I would like to congratulate you on the strong election result in the complicated political process. Your strong claim to be present in politics is an alternative to the old governance model, and today you are entering into talks and common actions with the election winners from GERB-UDF. Therefore, it is important for the Bulgarian public to know how far you can go with this political compromise in the most important task in this Parliament - forming a regular government as soon as possible," the President said.

Radev asked the coalition representatives what formula they see if it comes to a second mandate - seeking broad support, a minority government or something else.

"An important task, besides forming a government, is legislative activity, where you, as the second political force with very little difference in the election result from the first, have a serious parliamentary role in setting the agenda of the National Assembly. We can see that from yesterday and today, there are many submitted draft laws, every day their number grows, but what are your intentions for priorities, because in addition to the state budget law, we have to adopt in an urgent order the laws that will contribute to our European integration – on Schengen, the euro zone, the Recovery and Resilience Plan," the Head of State further said.

Radev asked the "We Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria" when they think is the right time for handing over the first mandate, and if it fails - the second one.

"You have outlined quite well the dilemmas facing us, but I want to state that we are setting a clear standard in Bulgarian politics - that what we promise and say before the elections should also be our actions after the elections," responded WCC co-chair Kiril Petkov.

The main priorities in the legislative programme will be the possibility for investigation of the prosecutor general (if there is sufficient evidence they have committed a crime), the law on the anti-corruption commission, the eurozone and Schengen, he said.

"It would be a huge shame for Bulgaria to be separated from Romania and for Bulgarians to be put as second-class Europeans. This is unacceptable and we should all try to avoid this result being achieved in this bad way. As regards the eurozone - we know that if we want Bulgaria to go forward with lower interest rates, with chances for our banking system to be really stable, we have to do it."

Petkov reiterated the position of “We Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria” that they would not give their support to the first government forming mandate of GERB-UDF. .

"We are ready to put a clear opportunity for the Bulgarian Parliament to elect a government with the second mandate. This government will be guided by the same standards and priorities we have shared."

A year later and two election cycles later, we come to the legislative agenda and priorities of the last regular cabinet, said WCC co-chair Assen Vassilev.

"As regards the bills related to the Recovery Plan, there is already a conviction in society, political forces, the presidency that they should be adopted. Setting a new way of managing public finances - they should be managed in a way that the money reaches all Bulgarian citizens and companies, not selected citizens and selected companies."

“We Continue the Change” and GERB are opponents and have different views on how the country should develop, Vassilev said, but clarified that they have managed to find a workable formula for Parliament through the priorities in the legislative programme.

"Even opponents can and should respect each other, but there are some boundaries that cannot be crossed. Those clear boundaries are that there is no way in the executive that “We Continue the Change” and GERB can work together."

In Parliament, consolidation has been achieved around an undisputed agenda, DB co-chairman Hristo Ivanov said.

"They even include a request such as amending the constitution, because it is clear to us that a full-fledged judicial reform cannot be implemented on the legal level alone."

Images by Dessislava Kulelieva

He said the fact that the President had allowed more time between the handing over of the mandates in the previous Parliament had given the political parties the opportunity to go through the processes they needed.

"We are not talking about unprincipled compromises, but about the possibility to get certain tasks done and it is clear that this is complicated in a situation of polarisation (...) We can take responsibility for the governance of the country and offer an option only with the second mandate," Hristo Ivanov added.

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