Pro-European coalition seeks quick consensus on anti-corruption reform in Bulgaria

4 months ago 17

The pro-European coalition We Continue the Change – Democratic Bulgaria (PP-DB / Renew Europe – EPP) is seeking agreements to implement anti-corruption reforms in the country before starting negotiations to elect a regular government, despite the slim chances of reaching a deal.

“It’s easy to form a government, it’s hard for that government to do anything useful, so we want to put these important issues at the heart of the next government,” said former Bulgarian prime minister Nikolai Denkov, who leads the PP-DB parliamentary group, charged with forming a government.

Denkov added that “everyone says they want to fight corruption, but that means passing the necessary laws to implement them in practice”, he said, emphasising the need for reform.

On Wednesday, the pro-European coalition announced that four parliamentary formations had expressed a desire for dialogue, although it is still not clear whether Bulgaria will be able to emerge from the severe political crisis it finds itself in and form a government.

The first political force GERB (EPP), the pro-Russian radical party Vazrahzdane (Revival), the populist ITN and the pro-Russian Bulgarian Socialist Party announced that they would negotiate.

Potential support for a government could also be sought from one part of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS, Renew Europe) that represents the Turkish community of Bulgaria, but it depends on whether the president allows enough time.

“We expect the president to hand over the mandate, and PP-DB to start in-depth talks for a regular government with clear goals and priorities for the country’s development,” said Dzhevdet Chakarov of the DPS, which is ready to negotiate with the PP-DB.

Bulgarians went to the polls in June for the sixth time in the last three years, but the failure of the largest party, GERB, to form a government has raised the prospect of another election in October.

Meanwhile, processes of disintegration of parliamentary parties began, such as the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS), the country’s second political force (17%), which split into two parliamentary factions, although still under the same banner.

The pro-Russian radical party Velichie (Greatness) that has 4.6% also disbanded.

After these events, the pro-European PP-DB coalition emerged as the second largest political formation in parliament, and the responsibility for forming a consensus government fell to them.

The PP-DB asked the president for three months before handing over the mandate, in order to form an anti-corruption majority in the National Assembly before proposing a regular government.

President Rumen Radev was sceptical that he could give them that much time, although he said that the initiative was necessary.

(Krassen Nikolov | Euractiv.bg)