President consults largest parliamentary group GERB-UDF

During the consultations with representatives of GERB-UDF on Thursday, President Rumen Radev said that the first political force in Parliament has the greatest responsibility for forming a government, one that has to be formed as quickly as possible and with the widest possible parliamentary support in the conditions of war and crisis.

The representatives of GERB-UDF were GERB leader Boyko Borissov, GERB-UDF floor leader Desislava Atanasova and MP Tomislav Donchev.

Borissov said that his party is patient and it is making efforts. According to him, the consensus reached Wednesday in the working group on budget and finance between GERB-UDF and Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB) should not be wasted. 

As the leading political formation, GERB-UDF has a key role in solving the urgent issues before the 49th National Assembly, which are becoming even more complicated because they have been postponed by several parliaments, Radev said during the consultations. According to him, the bills submitted by the caretaker government under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP), Schengen and the eurozone, as well as the adoption of the State Budget Act are the pressing issues in question.

The President wished GERB-UDF "imagination and success" on the occasion of the request by GERB-UDF and CC-DB for a budget in which spending will not be changed, taxes will not be raised and there will be a 3% deficit.

According to Radev, the multi-layered tasks before Parliament are becoming more complicated because of the time factor. He said that if a government is formed quickly, which everyone expects, there will be time for all legislation to be considered.

Borissov stressed that the Bulgarian people have shown several times in a row that no party can govern alone, and any leader or leaders who do not take this fact into account cannot answer any of the urgent questions, he noted in relation to the issues raised by the President.

He assured that GERB-UDF's MPs are responsible and when it comes to the budget, they will look for ways to resolve the issue and will not leave the country in bankruptcy or collapse in June. Previously, Borissov had specified that any talk of policies will follow the formation of a government and warned that his party is not going to back a state budget that is not put forward by a regular government.

Atanasova said that at the fastest pace of work the parliamentary committees could start work either by the end of next week or after May 1. Priority will also be given to the bills tabled by the Council of Ministers on the NRRP, the eurozone, Schengen, as well as the two bills related to the judicial reform. According to her, with an agreement between all groups in the National Assembly, as many laws as possible can be considered within two or three weeks, with shortened deadlines.

After the consultations ended, Borissov told journalists that he will not be GERB-UDF's candidate for Prime Minister. Half of the GERB-UDF parliamentary group are ministers and a draft cabinet can be made very quickly, Borissov said. The political formation has an option for both an expert and a party cabinet, he added. Borissov reiterated that he is convinced that the best for Bulgaria is a coalition between the two largest political forces - GERB-UDF and CC-DB. 

Borissov said that the Radev will hand them the first exploratory mandate in the coming days because the President did not want to be accused of being a dictator. He added that a specific deadline was not discussed, but he admitted that GERB-UDF had asked Radev to delay the handing over of the first government forming mandate by a few days so that reason could prevail and there could be a government. They have discussed the option of caretaker ministers to enter a regular cabinet. 

Borissov added that he is constantly meeting with the leaders of CC-DB, but the political formations have not reached an agreement for GERB-UDF to support a second-term cabinet.

The state budget was also a topic of the talks between GERB-UDF and the head of state.

Borissov called for common sense and said that his party is ready to suffer losses and criticism, but for them to be in favour of the state.