site.btaPM Borissov: Disagreements in Ruling Coalition Are Resolved

Sofia, July 26 (BTA) - Speaking at an emergency news briefing Thursday at the Council of Ministers, Prime Minister Boyko Borissov said that the disagreements between the parties in the ruling coalition have been resolved.

"I believe there is no issue that we cannot resolve through compromise for the sake of the public interest," said Borissov. He added that the reasons for the contentious revisions to the Privatization and Post-privatization Control Act, which were the source of the disagreement, and the response to the presidential veto have been clarified.

He went on to say that for two days there had been coalition councils over disagreements between the parties in the ruling coalition, GERB and the United Patriots, in connection with certain legislative proposals. In the future there will be regular meetings between the parliamentary groups and the government to avoid such situations.

"The coalition is stable enough not because of power, positions or parliamentary seats but because anything else would mean utter chaos," said Borissov.

Borissov said that all efforts made by the government for the development of the country should not fall victim to personal relations and he thanked his coalition partners for overcoming their egos.

United Patriots co-floor leader and Ataka leader Volen Siderov said that the meetings between the coalition partners cleared away many issues which were being resolved in the wrong way. "When we had unresolved issues, we aired them in the media," said Siderov. He also said that the verbal exchange through the media should not be interpreted as "something destructive". He said that the coalition partners had agreed that differences should be resolved through consensus.

Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Krassimir Karakachanov said that the government and the ruling majority are stable.

Tensions within the power-sharing United Patriots coalition escalated into mutual recriminations of lobbyism in connection with a number of legislative proposals, the latest of which would have spared the owners of the shipbuilding company Navibulgar 58 million leva in penalties for undelivered commitments.