site.btaBulgaria without Censorship Leader Barekov: Programmes of BwC, GERB Overlap 99%

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Bulgaria without Censorship Leader
Barekov: Programmes of BwC, GERB
Overlap 99%


Brussels, October 15 (BTA Correspondent Nikolay Jeliazkov) -
Nikolai Barekov, member of the European Parliament and leader of
Bulgaria without Censorship (BwC), said here on Wednesday that
he does not expect the BwC parliamentary group to fall apart
after Ana Barakova, who was elected MP on the coalition's
candidate list, announced her intentions to become an
independent national representative.

"I think that all of this is a storm in a teacup and Ms Barakova
will return to the parliamentary group, she has not even left
it," Barekov told Bulgarian journalists in Brussels. Asked
whether it is true that Barakova has been threatened, the BwC
leader said that he has been away from Bulgaria for ten days,
that Barakova has in no way been subjected to pressure and that
she has not communicated with anyone in the party. Everything
else is unnecessary talks and clamour, he added.

In Barekov's words, Barakova is a person who has ended up in the
BwC parliamentary group "by accident". All the other MP
candidates have been checked and are reliable people, the
situation is absurd and the group is stable, he added.

There is no such thing as relations between Barekov and GERB
leader Boyko Borissov, the BwC leader said in relation to the
forthcoming talks with GERB on the formation of a new
government. In his words, he has the power to be a MEP and
Borissov is a national politician in Bulgaria. Barekov noted
that on Friday the negotiating delegation of BwC will meet with
GERB but without "laughable conditions" as the ones set by other
parliamentary represented parties thus far. If there is common
ground between BwC and GERB, the talks will continue, Barekov
specified. In his words, 99 per cent of the content of these two
formations' programmes overlap.

Taking a question, Barekov said that the best ending of the
negotiations between BwC and GERB would be the formation of a
centre-right coalition government on GERB's mandate. In his
words, the new cabinet can comprise three to four political
forces without "fringe elements", such as Ataka and ABV. There
will not be stability without BwC, he added.

"We are the only party which is neither in a hurry to
participate in the government nor is bargaining over
ministerial positions and setting conditions," Barekov noted. He
added that BwC is not a one-man formation, therefore the
coalition's negotiators may decide to participate in the next
government without coordinating this decision with him. Asked
whether BwC will support the cabinet in Parliament if the
coalition is not part of the country's governance, Barekov said
that he does not know and that it depends on the people who will
be nominated for ministers.

LI/DS