site.btaDSB Leaves Government Coalition, Health Minister Moskov Keeps His Post

DSB Leaves Government Coalition, Health Minister Moskov Keeps His Post

Pomorie, on the Black Sea, December 13 (BTA) - Democrats for Strong Bulgaria (DSB) is withdrawing its confidence in the government and is leaving the parliamentary majority, said leader Radan Kanev on Saturday evening after a five-hour meeting of the party's leadership in the Black sea town of Pomorie.

Kanev said that the move has been prompted by GERB's backtracking on agreed changes to the Constitution and the boycott of outgoing Justice Minister Hristo Ivanov.

Kanev added that DSB supports the reformist policies implemented by Health Minister Peter Moskov and because of that Moskov will step down as DSB deputy leader but will remain health minister.

Atanas Atanassov will resign as chair of the parliamentary committee for internal security and public order but will remain deputy leader of the party.

At a news briefing late on Saturday, Atanassov and Minister Moskov presented DSB's position.

Moskov thanked his party for its support and said that his decision will put an end to attempts to undermine the majority and the government and block reforms wherever they are possible. He said that he was stepping down as deputy leader but that he will remain a DSB member.

In a statement to the media Kanev said that after the failure of the constitutional reform the stake was much larger than the unity of a party coalition. "We have done a lot of compromises and we have made hard decisions for the sake of few things: to purge the government from the cadres of the three-party coalition and the Oresharski cabinet who sunk Corporate Commercial Bank and to implement a constitutional reform. When those same people are blocking the reform, all our arguments to support the government cease to exist." said Kanev.

He added: "From now on we'll be a very critical opposition in Parliament and towards all polices that we believe are non-reformist, harmful to the country and wasteful." The DSB leader said that a larger part of their work will be on the field, meeting with people who share a vision for much bolder
reforms.

In a bTV interview on Sunday Kanev said that DSB was an opposition party and it had no right to ministers. "Moskov's political 'back' is Prime Minister Boyko Borissov. Moskov's personal decision to remain minister has led to his resignation as DSB deputy leader," said Kanev.

Prime Minister Boyko Borissov thanked Health Minister Peter Moskov for his position after the latest developments in DSB. Borissov was approached for comment after the unveiling of repaired roads in the Rhodope mountains.

Borissov said that DSB's decisions meant that the presidential election campaign had begun. The Prime Minister said, however, that human lives and the stability of a nation should not be put at stake because of personal ambitions.