site.btaOpposition to Table Motion of No Confidence in Government Immediately after Final Passage of 2018 Budget

Sofia, November 8 (BTA) - The procedure of tabling a motion of no confidence in the Boyko Borissov government will commence immediately after passage of the budgets of the National Health Insurance Fund, of the public social insurance, and the state budget for 2018, representatives of the negotiation teams on the motion from the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) and the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) told reporters Wednesday, after a meeting of the teams in Parliament. The proposal for the no confidence vote came from the BSP.

Four possible grounds for the motion are discussed: failure to fight corruption, failure of the national security policy and defence (the two proposed by the BSP), and the demographic crisis and health care (suggested by the MRF).

The BSP parliamentary group holds that the focus should be on failure to fight corruption. BSP MP Zhelyo Boichev argued that this can pertain to national security, health care, and the demographic policy.

The BSP is aware that the votes of the two formations will not be enough to pass the motion. The Socialists will solicit broad support for it in Parliament, as well as in the Bulgarian society, to attain the goal of bringing down from power the third cabinet of Prime Minister Boyko Borissov. A total of 121 votes of the 240-seat Parliament are needed for the no confidence motion to pass. The BSP, MRF and possibly Volya can together provide 116 votes (BSP - 80, MRF - 25, and Volya - 11).

The negotiating opposition parties concurred that a no confidence motion can be demanded on any area of the work of the cabinet. However, a motion on the grounds of the government's overall policy will mean that a new one will not be possible to table in the next six months.

MRF's Yordan Tsonev said that the formation accepted failure to cope with corruption as the grounds for the no confidence motion. Tsonev said that the two formations' governing bodies will decide on the grounds of the motion next week.