site.btaCoalition Talks Update: Five Deputy PMs in Future Government

December 8 (BTA) - As the future government coalition partners continue talks on a coalition agreement and the formation of a government, more details emerged Wednesday. One is that each of the four parties will have a deputy prime minister in the new government and there will be a fifth deputy prime minister in charge of "government efficiency", Continue the Change Co-Chairman Asen Vassilev told journalists.

Vassilev expressed hope that the coalition agreement will be signed by the end of this week.

Continue the Change, the largest formation in the new Bulgarian Parliament elected at the November 14 snap elections, is negotiating for a coalition agreement with the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), There Is Such a People (TISP) and Democratic Bulgaria (DB). The formerly ruling GERB-UDF and the Movement for Rights and Freedoms will be in opposition, and so will likely be the smallest parliamentary group, the nationalist Vazrazhdane.

Vassilev said the parties had just considered some final corrections to the coalition agreement. "We are literally talking about a couple of sentences," he added. "So we hope the final version to be ready later today." The plan is that the final version should be discussed separately by each party leadership on December 9-10.

Vassilev noted that the agreement will be based on the assumption that the government will serve out its four-year term in office.

Kalina Konstantinova of the parliamentary group of Continue the Change told journalists in the National Assembly that she has been nominated for deputy prime minister for government efficiency, which, she said, means "digital transformation of the state administration".

Lyubomir Karimanski said he expects TISP leader Slavi Trifonov to sign the agreement. It is up to the mandate-holder, Continue the Change, to determine the signing format, Karimanski added.

Viktoria Vassileva (TISP) expressed hope that the agreement will be finalized by the end of the day on Wednesday.

According to Democratic Bulgaria Floor Leader Hristo Ivanov, one of the ministers nominated by them will be a deputy prime minister. He said a version of the coalition agreement was sent out earlier on Wednesday, and the leaderships of the parties in the Democratic Bulgaria coalition are expected to state their opinion. Ivanov said his coalition is ready with its ministerial nominations, but declined to disclose them to the journalists.

Discussing the possibility for each government coalition partner to have a deputy prime minister in the future government, Ivanov explained that this will be a structural characteristic of the emerging government intended to eliminate the risk of "certain feudalization of the sectors".

BSP Chairperson Kornelia Ninova said they will discuss the new version of the coalition agreement later in the day before they decide when to convene the party's National Council. Ninova said all signatories should sign the agreement as equals, rather than letting Continue the Change sign it separately with each of the others, which is the only option that has been considered so far. LN/VE