site.btaPresident Radev Starts Consultations with Parliamentary Forces

President Radev Starts Consultations with Parliamentary Forces

Sofia, April 24 (BTA) - President Rumen Radev on Monday began consultations with the political forces represented in the new National Assembly. The consultations are a necessary step before the President hands a government-forming mandate to the political force which controls the largest group in the legislature.

VOLYA

The talks started with the smallest parliamentary group, that of the Volya party. Emerging from the meeting, the party leader, Vesselin Mareshki, said the participants in the session concurred that new snap elections would be disastrous for Bulgaria, its people and economy.

Mareshki said: "We were unanimous that the Volya parliamentary group is the only one that can ensure a stable government at the initial stage. In addition to supporting the new government at the initial stage, we will also be a major corrective force watching for the fulfillment of campaign promises."

Asked whether Volya will participate in the executive and whether there have been discussions with them about deputy ministerial seats and agency chief positions, Mareshki said no such talks have been held, "because to participate in a government means to participate with ministers as well." He said Volya may receive an invitation after the two largest forces, GERB and the United Patriots, finish their negotiations. "If they need our expertise, we will help them," he said.

Mareshki noted that much of Volya's campaign programme can be found in the future coalition agreement between GERB and the United Patriots, which is why Volya can easily support the government at the initial stage.

MRF

The Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) believes that the mainstream parties should devise a government programme for the period until the end of the Bulgarian EU Presidency in the first half of 2018, after which the political direction may be reviewed. "It is around such a programme that a majority should be formed in the National Assembly," MRF Chairman and Floor Leader Mustafa Karadayi said after his parliamentary group met with President Radev.

Karadayi noted: "We expressly repeated that we do not insist that the MRF should participate in the next executive government at all costs."

According to him, the mainstream political parties in Europe are getting united to suppress radicalism and nationalism, whose influence has increased. Bulgaria should be no exception, he said. "We expressed our position that extreme radicalism and nationalism should not be tolerated in any form, regardless of how influential they are in society."

Asked whether the United Patriots' participation in the government could become an insurmountable obstacle precluding any MRF support for policies of the ruling majority, Karadayi said: "We, and not only we but the whole political system and all those parties which are called mainstream parties, should not tolerate extreme nationalism and radicalism in any way, including their involvement in power." Asked whether the MRF sees the United Patriots as "extreme," Karadayi referred to Council of Europe reports "which describe the actions of these entities in a different way."