President holds first day of consultations with political forces

President Rumen had a first day of consultations with representatives of the parliamentary groups in the 49th National Assembly here on Monday. He met with the first, second and third largest groups in Parliament, GERB-UDF, Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB) and the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF), in this order. 

He asked the first two about the progress of their negotiations on continuing the government after a planned rotation but did not get any details. Outgoing Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov (CC-DB) told him that CC-DB and GERB-UDF are making “significant progress”. Before that, GERB’s Mariya Gabriel, the outgoing Foreign Minister who is the likely Prime Minister in the next government, told the President that the they need more time for talks. 

MRF told the President that if the first two parties agree on the future of the government, MRF will continue to back their meaningful decision.

Nikolay Denkov tendered his Cabinet’s resignation on March 5 to open up the path to the government rotation. On March 9, GERB-UDF and CC-DB started negotiations but have refused to enlighten the public about the progress made.

Following is a takeaway from the Monday consultations.

GERB-UDF was represented at the meeting with President Radev by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Mariya Gabriel and the deputy floor leaders of GERB-UDF Denitsa Sacheva, Raya Nazaryan, and Temenuzhka Petkova. Party leader Boyko Borissov was not there.

The head of State stressed that an important issue is the complicated relations between the partners in the coalition. He asked the representatives of GERB-UDF whether they believe that all contradictions will be overcome in the foreseeable future and how they assess the pace of the negotiations with the partners from CC-DB, as well as whether they are ready for the handing over of the mandate or need more time. 

“Do you consider the mandate unfulfilled in case of a possible failure of these negotiations or do you have other options - seeking another parliamentary majority, looking for other partners to govern or repeating the decision you took nine months ago - participating in a government with another mandate,” Radev further asked. 

He expressed hope for a constructive and good dialogue.

Mariya Gabriel said that the country needs stability, but it must be based on principles. ”We need stability, but it must be based on fundamental values, on a principled basis. It is important for us to highlight commonalities, but also to reach agreement and to look for ways to overcome differences where they exist,” she added.

Speaking to the press after being in the President’s Office, Gabriel said that the negotiations with CC-DB are ongoing, “we have shared views, the talks are constructive, of course we have differences and that is why we need the negotiations, and we need some more time”. 

In Gabriel's words, the talks are necessary so that the differences between CC-DB and GERB-UDF can be overcome. “The chances we give each other are on a very solid basis - transparency, a clear decision-making mechanism,” she added.

Asked of any red lines between GERB and CC-DB, Gabriel said: "You have not heard me talking about ‘red lines’, I will not change my vocabulary." “Dialogue, very clear responsibility, commitment, and the possibility to control what is decided is a guiding principle,” she added.

The President’s second meeting was with Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria co-leaders Atanas Atanasov, Kiril Petkov, Hristo Ivanov, outgoing Prime Minister Denkov, and CC-DB MP Daniela Bozhinova.

Radev asked the representatives of CC-DB whether they would support the first mandate of GERB-UDF and whether they were willing to continue on the same course as nine months ago or reconsider their relations with GERB-UDF. He noted that over the past nine months CC-DB had most of the responsibility for the government, having agreed with GERB-UDF that the first political force should officially have only one representative in the Council of Ministers, and having enjoyed strong support from MRF for the recent constitutional changes. 

Radev asked if CC-DB, like GERB-UDF, needed more time for negotiations and Nikolay Denkov said that the pace of the procedure for handing the government mandate is entirely for the President to decide.

The outgoing Prime Minister told journalists after the talks that his party took responsibility nine months ago, realizing the risk that such responsibility could cause political damage, but, he said, nine months on and after the adoption of two state budgets, amendments to the Constitution, the development of investment projects which were "stuck" for years, the unblocking of the country's energy transition, he believes it was worth the effort. 

Regarding the negotiations with GERB-UDF, Denkov noted that there is significant progress and that they should continue with this effort. "What is very important and there was an understanding on this from the other side - that these negotiations should start with a discussion about the reforms that have not been done yet, with the activation of those regulators and control bodies that are not working. So the first part of these negotiations is how we approach the continuation of these reforms," Denkov added. 

A possible staffing of the Council of Ministers is to be discussed, he said, adding that until that process is completed, the details cannot be discussed. There is progress, Denkov highlighted.

At the third meeting with the President for the day, the Movement for Rights and Freedoms was represented by Co-chairman Dzhevdet Chakarov, Deputy Chairmen Yordan Tsonev, Halil Letifov and Stanislav Anastasov and Deputy Floor Leader Hamid Hamid. The party’s other co-leader, Delyan Peevski, did not attend. 

Yordan Tsonev said at the consultations that if GERB-UDF and CC-DB, reach agreement and rotation takes place, MRF “will carry on its policy of being a factor of stability and reasonably supporting what it believes is for the benefit of the people”.

Chakarov commented that the MRF's position on the current situation and the ongoing consultations is unchanged. Hopefully, the main players will find the formula; if not, there is always the possibility of a different configuration, but this may be rather difficult, Chakarov said, commenting on the negotiations between GERB-UDF and CC-DB on the weekend.

On Tuesday, Radev will meet with representatives of the Vazrazhdane parliamentary group, at 9:30 a.m., BSP for Bulgaria, at 11:30 a.m., and There Is Such a People, at 2:00 p.m.