site.btaGERB, Patriotic Front Agree on 14 out of 18 Political Priorities

GERB, Patriotic Front Agree on 14 out of 18 Political Priorities


Sofia, October 16 (BTA) - The GERB party and the Patriotic Front
reached agreement on 14 out of 18 political priorities proposed
by GERB and modified five of them, Menda Stoyanova (GERB) said
on Thursday, emerging from talks between the two parties. The
four matters on which the negotiating teams had differences were
the budgetary and tax framework, the national energy efficiency
programme, the National Health Insurance Fund, and the pension
reform.

The meeting was part of a series of political consultations
which GERB, in its capacity as the winning party in the October
5 parliamentary elections, is conducting with the other
parliamentary forces.

GERB was assured that the Patriotic Front is a stable political
entity which can become a stable participant in the next
government.

The meeting, which lasted four and a half hours, was attended by
the two Co-Chairmen of the Patriotic Front, Valeri Simeonov and
Krassimir Karakachanov.

Roumyana Buchvarova (GERB) said the two parties achieved
consensus on all imperative requirements set by GERB. They had
some differences but they were of technical nature, not
substantive. The Patriotic Front laid more emphasis on the
content of the governance programme than personnel matters,
Buchvarova said.

The Patriotic Front recognized GERB's right to designate the
future prime minister and the Parliament leader, Buchvarova
said, adding that the Front also agreed to support the
Parliament leader candidate named by GERB.

Simeonov expressed satisfaction with the high degree of
consensus between the two parties regarding the issues facing
the nation. Simeonov said the question of who will take the
government ministers's seats is less important than the tasks
which the ministers will be assigned by the government coalition
to perform.

Before the meeting, the Patriotic Front listed 10 conditions for
a stable government. These include barring the Movement for
Rights and Freedoms from power, reviving the economy, conducting
an urgent probe into the energy sector, exempting low incomes
from tax, and implementing reforms in education, science,
culture, the judicial system and the security sector.