Bulgarian government survives second no-confidence vote

The Bulgarian government survived a second no-confidence vote on Wednesday – which had been filed based on allegations that the cabinet had failed in the field of defence and national security.

The no-confidence vote was filed by the pro-Russian Bulgarian Socialist Party and Vazrazhdane and was backed by the populist ITN party. About 71 MPs supported the vote – those who submitted the request vote and one MP from Boyko Borissov’s GERB party. Those against were 155 deputies from GERB, the coalition PP-DB, with whose mandate the government is formed, and the Turkish minority party DPS.

Before the vote, the ruling majority went through two major crises.

One was related to the request of DPS and GERB to stop the import of Russian oil immediately, which was not supported by Prime Minister Nikolai Denkov and PP-DB because of the risk of social tension before winter. The rulers agreed to stop imports in March, which is nine months before the expiration of the European derogation for the import of Russian oil.

The second crisis was connected with the police violence against protesting fans and bystanders in Sofia on the evening of the Bulgaria-Hungary match.

This led to PP-DB’s demand for the resignation of Interior Minister Kalin Stoyanov and subsequently to the recognition that the minister was a proposed GERB “expert” in the government.

Crisis on Thursday

The most critical day for the cabinet’s survival was Thursday, November 16. Then GERB and DPS decided to take the government hostage to the decision on the future of the Lukoil Neftochim Burgas refinery.

The deputies from GERB and DPS demonstratively left the plenary hall just before the vote of no confidence. So the matter remained to be decided for this week.

Prime Minister Nikolai Denkov cited the reports of the special services, which point to the risks for Bulgaria and the Balkans from such a decision. The refinery in Burgas is the only jet fuel producer in the region.

The refinery’s management has warned that it could shut down if supplies from Russia are stopped too quickly because they have about a week’s supply of crude. This threatens the jobs of several thousand people in the Burgas region, where the refinery is the largest employer.

‘Evening of Signs’

However, the leader of the DPS parliamentary group, Delyan Peevski and GERB MP, Delyan Dobrev, insisted on the immediate suspension of Russian oil.

“This is the night of signs. Either there will be a Euro-Atlantic parliamentary majority or a pro-Putin majority that will govern Bulgaria. We will not participate in the second one,” the leader of DPS’s MPs, Delyan Peevski, said. He explicitly explained that “colleagues from GERB will not participate either“.

Peevski, who is sanctioned for corruption by the US under the Global Magnitsky Act, did not explain how he sees forming a Euro-Atlantic majority in the parliament without the participation of PP-DB. Such a scenario is impossible because the remaining major groups are the pro-Russian BSP and Vazrazhdane.

Late on Thursday evening, the police violence against the protesters in Sofia also happened, which caused the PP-DB to demand the resignation of the Minister of the Interior. However, Kalin Stoyanov was protected by GERB and DPS, and Boyko Borisov stated that Stoyanov could be fired, but only in a package with Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov.

(Krassen Nikolov | Euractiv.bg)

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