With the ruling coalition facing a no-confidence vote next week, supporters of the pro-EU government are taking to the streets to express their anger.
Protesters gather in support of the government in Sofia, Bulgaria, June 17. Photo by Svetoslav Todorov.
Bulgaria’s coalition will face a no-confidence vote next Wednesday, June 22, preceded by an emergency debate on Tuesday, parliament announced on Friday.
The minority cabinet of mandate holders “We Continue the Change”, their closest allies, Democratic Bulgaria, and the Bulgarian Socialist Party, BSP, will face a motion filed by their former partners “There’s Such a People” – who abruptly left the cabinet on June 8 over the alleged lifting of the EU blockade on North Macedonia and fund mismanagement – the former ruling GERB party, the Movement for Rights and Freedoms and the pro-Kremlin far-right Revival.
On Friday, PM and “We Continue the Change” co-leader Kiril Petkov denied wrongdoing and said that “There’s Such a People” had tried to keep intact financial schemes of giving state money to private firms with problematic reputations.
“We refused to give a budget of 3.9 billion levs (around two billion euro), part of which, 2.5 billion (around 1.7 billion euro), had to go on covering construction costs; 80 per cent of these companies turned out to be illegal. And when we refused to give these funds, ‘There’s Such a People’ decided that it would be better not to have this government. They hoped to greenlight these grand thefts but that did not happen,” Petkov told Capital Weekly.
The coalition currently relies on 109 MPs of the 121 needed to survive. Parliament has a total of 240 seats, the figure of 109 may rise to 114. But the cabinet will still need seven more votes to survive, which might come from the divided “There’s Such a People” party.
On Thursday, Nikola Minchev, of “We Continue the Change”, was ousted as Speaker. The growing opposition in parliament axed him with 125 MPs in favour and 114 against.
Later on Thursday, however, several thousand protesters gathered around the National Assembly for a rare protest in support of the government.
People cheered “We Continue the Change” and Democratic Bulgaria MPs and threw bottles and other objects at opposition members.
“There will be a no-confidence vote but this shouldn’t disappoint you: it’s only a phase, which we will overcome,” Petkov told the protesters, waving Bulgarian and EU flags.
Toshko Yordanov, of “There’s Such a People”, so tried to address the crowd but was taken back to parliament by the police after the protesters started booing and throwing bottles at him.
Demonstrations are also set to take place in Plovdiv and Varna.
If the government is ousted, GERB will be handed a mandate to form a government that might feature the parties now in opposition. If these talks prove unsuccessful, new elections will be held.
“There’s Such a People”, which crossed the floor from the governing coalition to the opposition, is in a process of disintegration.
Six members, including Minister of Youth and Sport Radostin Vassilev, left on June 14, alleging that leaders Slavi Trifonov and Toshko Yordanov have ties to criminal structures, and that heated debates over North Macedonia are only a smokescreen for such activities.
In subsequent appearances, Vassilev said that the other MPs are afraid to leave the party, as they are constantly threatened.
On Friday, MP Kiril Simeonov also announced that he is exiting the party. “I’m ashamed that we voted along with those who we previously opposed,” he said.
President Rumen Radev, who has also turned from a supporter to a critic of the coalition, described current events on Friday as “muddy battles”.
Source link: balkaninsight.com
