site.btaFour MPs Quit BwC Coalition, But Not Its Parliamentary Group

Four MPs Quit BwC Coalition, But Not Its Parliamentary Group


Sofia, December 29 (BTA) - Four MPs of "Bulgaria without
Censorship" (BwC) quit the coalition on Monday but remained in
the BwC-controlled parliamentary group of the Bulgarian
Democratic Centre (BDC), the BDC press office said.

Stefan Kenov, Georgi Kovachev, Borislav Iglev and Hristo Todorov
noted that they were leaving BwC because the conduct of the
coalition's founder Nikolai Barekov has been very inconsistent.
They also complained of pressure and a lack of a clear
distinction between separate political levels and partner
relationships.

The four stated: "Nikolai Barekov presents his own, often
changing, viewpoint as our common position. We believe that
personal battles and the sudden swings in Mr Barekov's mood and
views prevent us from being really useful to our constituents,
because this keeps us from formulating common positions and runs
counter to the rules of procedure of our parliamentary group."

The four men said that even as they leave BwC, they remain an
integral part of the BDC group which represents BwC in
Parliament. "We are convinced that BDC is the only parliamentary
group which actually defends Liberal values," they stated.

On December 22, Nikolai Barekov resigned as Chairman of the
Council of BwC, stating that he was also withdrawing his
unconditional support for BDC.

Back then, the press office of Barekov's party quoted him as
saying: "Our voters have not voted for people who entered
Parliament thanks to me and to BwC to put the Interior Ministry
back into the hands of [GERB's first cabinet's interior minister
Tsvetan] Tsvetanov and to rob people of their money." He
withdrew his support from the parliamentary group but not from
the MPs who voted against an amendment to the Social Insurance
Code entered by GERB: Svetlin Tanchev, Stefan Kenov, Martin
Ivanov, Georgi Kovachev, Borislav Iglev and Hristo Todorov.