site.btaBulgaria's Parliament Supports New Government

Bulgaria's Parliament Supports New Governmen

Sofia, May 4 (BTA) - Bulgaria's Parliament Thursday voted to support the new government of Prime Minister Boyko Borissov. Borissov's proposal for government structure and composition was voted en bloc. It is a coalition government of Borissov's GERB party as the senior parner and the United Patriots nationalist coalition of IMRO, the National Front for Nalvation of Bulgaria and Ataka.

The MPs of GERB, the United Patriots and Volya voted in favour of the government and the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) and the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) voted against.

The government structure passed on 134-101 votes with no abstentions and the lineup on 133-101 with no abstentions.

The new government will have four deputy prime ministers and 18 ministers, including one in charge of preparing the Bulgarian Presidency of the EU Council in 2018.

This is the third government headed by GERB leader Boyko Borissov. The first resigned amid mass protests over rising electricity prices and the second stepped down when the GERB candidate lost the late-2016 presidential elections to Socialist-backed Rumen Radev.

Addressing the legislature before he took the oath as Prime Minister, Borissov said that GERB and the United Patrios, "by the will of the Bulgarian people", are taking the responsibility for this country at a moment that is historic for Europe and the world, amid political uncertainty, economic owes, religious conflicts and regional instability.

The Government's plans

He said that the coalition partners were able to form a government after overcoming their differences and reaching an agreement on the key priorities: the Euro-Atlantic path of Bulgaria, a successful EU Presidency in 2018, national security and well-protected national borders, higher incomes and quality education.
 
Borissov voiced plans to draft a new anti-corruption law, established a new anti-corruption body based on the existing criminal assets forfeiture commission, and a new procedure for prosecuting high-level corruption.

Borissov promised to modernize the country and step up economic growth to ensure a GDP of 120 billion leva at the end of the four-year term of the government. He said if their programme is implemented, the minimum wage will reach 650 leva and the average wage 1,500 leva or more.

He promised emergency measures for dealing with the demographic problems and continued increase of investment and reforms in education and research, including doubled teacher pay at the end of the government's full life.

Another strategic goal is improving the health of the nation, demonopolizing the National Health Insurance Fund and ensuring financing for the health care system.
 
The government will work for overcoming the regional imbalances, modernize the infrastructure and complete the "motorway ring". 

Bulgaria will participate in the preparation and implementation of a new EU defence policy in order to ensure national security.

The participation of the national defence industry in investment projects and rearmament will be stepped up.

BSP: Blatant example of substituting people's will

BSP leader Kornelia Ninova said during the debate before the election of the new government that Borissov's third cabinet will be "the most blatant example of a substitution of people's will". She reiterated her position that the BSP will be an alternative to the powers that be.

Ninova listed three reasons for rejecting the cabinet: the considerable differences between the platforms of the BSP and the ruling coalition, the fact that the priorities defined by the coalition partners "are a renunciation on their election promises," and "the insecurity of Bulgaria hatched by the coalition agreement on governance".

MRF: Hard times in store for all Bulgarians and democracy

MRF leader Mustafa Karadaya said the third government mandate of GERB will be a difficult time for all Bulgarians and for democracy in this country. "GERB will pay a high price for its irresponsible decision to let the nationalists in the government when it had other options," he said.

He said that there is "a value wall" that divided nationalism and patriotism, and that the three parties in the United Patriots coalition have walked the road from "show patriotism to aggressive nationalism to hypocritical patriotism".

Karadaya said that a success is unlikely for this government and accused it of offering empty words and wishful thinking in the place of a government programme.

He warned that "recent events in the region will put the new government to a test" and called for making "Bulgaria's unique ethnic model" a national ideal instead of "rushing to send it into the mudeum of history". "MRF preaches unity, togetherness, tolerance and peace," the MRF leader said.

Volya to watch government "with a magnifying glass"

Volya leader Vesselin Mareshki said that his party will support the government but will follow "with a magnifying glass" every step it takes. Mareshki recalled that during the cabinet-formation talks Volya said they could not participate in a government which includes extreme nationalists. "However, each Bulgarian is entitled to a second chance and this is why we are ready to compromise on the names in the cabinet but never on their deeds," he said. Mareshki said that no one: the government, the people, nor the business stands to gain from chaos. "We all stand to win from stable government with tangible results in the name of the people," he said. 

After the debate and the vote, the new government took the oath. The ceremony in Parliament was attended by President Radev, the Head of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Neophyte, caretaker PM Ognyan Gerdjikov and members of his government, representatives of state instititions, religious denominations and diplomats.

The parliamentary sitting was broadcast live by the Bulgarian National Television and the Bulgarian National Radio.

The government-related developments on Thursday were purely ceremonial as the structure and composition of the new government were made public a day earlier and it is clear that the government has enough support in Parliament to go through.

Early on Thursday, Prime Minister-designate Borissov presented to President Rumen Radev his proposal for the government structure and composition and the President issued a decree asking Parliament to put Borissov's proposal to the vote.

The new Government will take over at a ceremony around 1:00 p.m.

President Radev told reporters on his way into Parliament that he hopes for continuity in the executive branch of power, especially in regard to Bulgaria's Presidency of the EU Council, security and foreign policy. He declined comment for the new government composition. "It is too early. We have not seen their government programme," he said.