BTA: Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria: New Cabinet with This Parliament Is Highly Undesirable

As they met with President Rumen Radev for consultations Monday ahead of the handing of a government-forming mandate, Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB) said that having a new cabinet with this Parliament is "highly undesirable". "A new government in this National Assembly is, in our view, impossible and highly undesirable," said Assen Vassilev, leader Continue the Change, speaking to the President.

The CC-DB delegation to the President also included CC-DB co-floor leader Nickolay Denkov, MPs Ivaylo Mirchev, Bozhidar Bozhanov, Atanas Atanassov and Kristina Petkova, who represent all parties in the CC-DB coalition.

According to Vassilev, the current government should submit a budget extension bill, which must be passed before the end of the year to guarantee to citizens and businesses that there will be no problems.

GERB has already said that they are preparing to submit a budget extension bill this week.

"The minimum wage has already been set at a different level by a Council of Ministers decree, and it should also be included in the law," Vassilev explained.

CC-DB hopes that the budget extension should be submitted this week, and Vassilev expressed readiness for his parliamentary group to work between Christmas and New Year.

Vassilev also noted that pensions are usually updated from July 1, which leaves enough time to provide for that in a new budget prepared by a new Cabinet.

"Citizens protested against the model of governance embodied by [GERB leader Boyko] Borisov and [MRF - New Beginning leader Delyan] Peevski. We know this model must be dismantled, and the removal of the government is only the first step," stressed the Continue the Change leader.

Ivaylo Mirchev, co-chair of Yes, Bulgaria, pointed out that there are several other important tasks for this National Assembly, one of which is the removal of the security detail of Delyan Peevski - and all MPs. "Peevski is more heavily protected than you are, with special forces and better cars," Mirchev told the President. "For this reason, we have convened an extraordinary commission to see what the will of this National Assembly is," he added. “If we want to show that we are politicians with courage and truly want to change our country, we must demonstrate that courage in the National Assembly. Separately, Peevski must be removed from Todor Zhivkov’s cabinet," Mirchev commented.

Zhivkov was this country's strongman from 1954 to the fall of communism in 1989.

The President said that Parliament should exercise oversight on the commission which decides which gets to be protected by the National Service for Protection.

Atanas Atanassov, chairman of DSB, asked Radev whether he has plans for a political project of his own and whether he will run in the upcoming early parliamentary elections. "Who are we talking to right now – the President or a political opponent?” he asked.

The President said this question is not on the agenda. "We are here for consultations after the cabinet came down, We have not gathegered to discuss some hypothetical party of mine," he said adding that it was not his wish to turn the consultations into a campaign event. "I am here in my capacity as head of State fulfilling his obligations. If things come to this, I will let you know. This matter is being discussed outside this office - and for years now. Everywhere I go, people ask me about it."

The President asked CC-DB if they would initiate Election Code revisions "to ensure more transparency and fairness", and vowed full support for machine voting with control counting of voting certificates.

CC-DB said they insists on amendments to the Electoral Code to introduce fully machine-based voting.

/NF/