Co-Chairman of “Democratic Bulgaria” Urges Continued Talks for Expert Cabinet

“We must understand that there is no option for Bulgaria to go to early elections and there is no option not to continue the talks and not reach a government. There are too many reasons to freeze conversations and not be satisfied with the state of things, but there must be a return to the negotiating table. There is no option for it not to happen and I hope it happens.”

This was stated in “Politically INCORRECT” by the co-chairman of “Democratic Bulgaria” Hristo Ivanov, leader of “Yes, Bulgaria”. He emphasized that DB are of the opinion that in this situation a composition of government should be sought, which does not include leaders and political figures, but “a formula close to what is called an expert cabinet”.

It was a unanimous decision of the National Council of the DB to support a government with a second term and a rotating presidency, he explained to BNR.

Ivanov pointed out that “the normal working channel of communication on PP-DB with GERB-SDS is Academician Nikolay Denkov” and he should continue the talks between the formations for a joint cabinet.

Given the expectation that the president will hand over the exploratory mandate to the PP-DB in the coming days, and maybe even hours, he commented that there may not be time for a serious revision of the cabinet formula with GERB:

“Nikolay Denkov and Maria Gabriel should get together tomorrow and have a conversation and get out of this endless changing of the formula and ambiguity regarding what GERB would support”.

Hristo Ivanov again emphasized that the PP-DB’s argument for the first rotating prime minister to be Academician Denkov is that in the event that “constitutional reform falters and goes in an unexpected direction”, the prime minister will resign.

“The constitutional reform will be the first and most important test for this cabinet. If he goes through it so that this reform happens, he can survive and continue to work for a long time.”

On the occasion of comments made by MP Radostin Vasilev in the recordings of a closed meeting of the National Assembly of “We continue the change”, which also talks about the political longevity of the DB, the expected constitutional reform, after which “Hristo Ivanov can retire” (quote from the recording – b.r.), the co-chairman of the DB stated that he has no naive expectations of how the political conversation goes behind closed doors:

“We are in this coalition because we have made commitments to our common voters. Our main commitment is to have a government that will realize certain priorities for the country”.

According to him, the things said in the records related to the state administration are a good reason to hold a conversation about how the Bulgarian administration should be modernized:

“Which it certainly means to end the purges of ours and yours. This means applying clear standards by which people who are in certain positions because of political loyalties are replaced by people who have objective reasons for being there. Yes, this means that the Bulgarian administration will probably have to be cut, but this should be a political conversation and we will insist on it. … This is also a good occasion in the negotiations for a cabinet with the second mandate to set serious goals related to the modernization and stabilization of the administration”.

Hristo Ivanov emphasized that regarding the heads of services, “final decisions on appointments should be made only in Sofia“:

“Within the legislative changes regarding these decisions, bringing parliament into these decisions ensures that they do not depend on anyone alone and they will not be able to be taken in some closed room, in consultation with any one else”.

The interview of Silvia Velikova with Hristo Ivanov in the show “Politically INCORRECT” can be heard from the sound file.