site.btaCabinet Postpones Regular Weekly Meeting for Friday As Ministers Go to Parliament to Attend Voting of New External Debt Agreement

Cabinet Postpones Regular Weekly Meeting for Friday As Ministers Go to Parliament to Attend
Voting of New External Debt Agreement

Sofia, February 25 (BTA) - The Council of Ministers postpones
its regular weekly meeting on Wednesday to Friday, the
government's information service said on Wednesday.

The ministers went to Parliament to attend a session where three
agreements under which the country is to incur new external
debt amounting to 16,000 million leva are to be ratified.

The opposition Bulgarian Socialist Party, Movement for Rights
and Freedom and Ataka are firmly against the debt. ABV (which is
part of the government coalition) also oppose the move in its
present form, while the Patriotic Front (another member of the
ruling coalition) have yet to come up with a conclusive
position. Only GERB and the Reformist Bloc have pledged support
for the draft legislation. A TV broadcast on Tuesday evening
described as a "stalemate" the prospects for success of the
ratification. Following Tuesday's resignation of General Stoyan
Tonev from Parliament, GERB and the Reformist Bloc have been
left with an aggregate of 106 votes in the 240-seat legislature.
Even if they win over 12 of the Bulgarian Democratic Centre
MPs, they can only count on 118 votes. It is rumoured that two
independent MPs will also vote in favour. Support for the
controversial bill thus adds up to 120 MPs (excluding ABV and
the Patriotic Front), with another 119 certain to vote against,
the TV station commented.