site.btaSocialist Party Remains Alone with No-Confidence Motion against Government

Sofia, January 11 (BTA) - The Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) remains alone as it prepares to move for a no-confidence motion against the government of GERB and the United Patriots on January 17, said here on Thursday BSP leader Kornelia Ninova. The no-confidence motion was initially expected to be moved jointly by the Socialists and the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF).

Ninova said that they have informed MRF about their plans. "We are ready with the reasoning. Whether the MRF will back us during the debates is a political decision they will have to make," said she.

MRF deputy floor leader Yordan Tsonev told reporters in Parliament that his group would support the no-confidence motion - only they would present their own reasoning.

The Socialists' leader explained her party decided to go ahead with the no-confidence motion after a end-year address by the MRF honorary chairman, Ahmed Dogan, who said that the GERB government remains without an alternative - a position later embraced by the MRF deputies.

Ninova said, though, that the MRF never told them they would not support the motion.

She singled out two key elements in the MRF's position that her party disagrees with: that no opposition force is ready to run the country and the MRF's call to the Bulgarian people to cherish the stability and security of the country.

"Only six months ago we went to elections with a government programme and intention to win the vote and run the country," the BSP leader said. "We agree that Bulgaria needs security and stability, but we believe that the key source of instability is the government of Boyko Borissov.

Ninova also said that her party does not see stability in any of the systems, such as health care, education, incomes, law enforcement.

Tsonev slammed the Socialists for lacking coalition culture. He said that the no-confidence motion was first discussed at the level of deputy floor leaders, then by the floor leaders where the core of the motion's reasoning - not the details - was agreed, and a workgroup was set up to elaborate the reasoning and formulate the motion. "We were not contacted between Christmas and New Year's Eve, and not after New Year's. Today we hear that BSP have made a decision to submit the motion on their own," Tsonev said.

"I am tempted to say that BSP's action proves the words of Ahmed Dogan," he added.