site.btaGERB Replies to Patriotic Front's Ultimatum, Talks Continue

GERB Replies to Patriotic Front's Ultimatum, Talks Continue

Sofia, June 10 (BTA) - GERB Floor Leader Tsvetan Tsvetanov and
the co-floor leaders of the Patriotic Front (PF), Valeri
Simeonov and Krassimir Karakachanov, talked for 50 minutes at
the National Assembly Wednesday about the PF's seven conditions
for its support for the Government. GERB had until June 9 to
reply to these conditions.

On May 27, the Patriotic Front presented seven conditions for
the Cabinet to meet before July 1 or else the PF will withdraw
its support for the ruling majority. The conditions include
urgent measures against conventional crime; a vote on
PF-proposed revisions to the Elections Code (including one to
make voting mandatory or at least introduce a requirement for
voter registration, and harsher sanctions against vote buying);
extension of the fence along the border with Turkey as a
deterrent against illegal entries in Bulgaria; a commitment not
to increase electricity prices; legislative measures to crack
down on illegal timber harvesting; making institutional
decisions to solve the problems of expatriate Bulgarians; and
the immediate dismantling of all illegal houses built in the
Roma neighbourhood of the southern village of Marchovo, Gurmen
Municipality, where serious tension between the villagers and
Roma people escalated in late May.

Emerging from the meeting, Simeonov and Karakachanov refused to
comment on the talks with the argument that they will speak when
 they have something to say. Tsvetanov said that he has never
regarded the PF's conditions as an ultimatum and that the talks
will continue with meetings with ministers on some of the
topics. He also said that GERB does not have a back-up plan if
the PF decides to leave the ruling majority after July 1. In his
 words, the question of the support's withdrawal was not
discussed at the meeting.

"Let us bear in mind that as the local elections draw near, the
degree of tension will rise; we have to resist this challenge
and not cross the line of impossibility to talk with each other
after the elections," Tsvetanov noted, adding that he
recommended constructivism to GERB's partners.

Tsvetanov listed as implementable by July 1 the PF's conditions
in the agricultural sector and Gurmen Municipality, where the
State has already taken measures.  The GERB Floor Leader
recalled that in 2012 a procedure was launched with 124 acts for
 the demolition of illegal houses built in Gurmen's Roma
neighbourhood, but in 2013 the government of Plamen Oresharski
suspended the procedure. Now it is being relaunched, he added.

Commenting of the PF's condition concerning electricity prices,
Tsvetanov said that these are expected to increase by around 1
per cent as of July 1 despite the fact that the debts in the
energy sector amount to some 3.7 billion leva, of which slightly
 over 2 billion leva are for the Tsankov Kamak hydropower
project. The changes in the Energy Act, however, are limiting
the expenditure part, he added.

The GERB Floor Leader also said that Interior Minister Roumyana
Buchvarova has already committed to the "restoration of the
compromised sections of the fence along the border with Turkey",
 and he expressed the conviction that new deterring
installations along the border will be constructed.

GERB and the Patriotic Front agreed to discuss at an additional
working meeting the PF's proposal for harsher sanctions against
vote buying and the introduction of active voter registration,
Tsvetanov also told journalists.