site.btaBulgaria for the Citizens Movement Says It Will Continue Working for Reformist Bloc's Unity

Sofia, August 5 (BTA) - Bulgaria for the Citizens Movement (BCM) said it will continue to work for the Reformist Bloc's unity, BCM said on Wednesday after its Executive Council meeting.

The comment comes in light of Radan Kanev's resignation as the Reformist Bloc's spokesman and the reasons behind it. 
 
Radan Kanev, Chairman of the Democrats for Strong Bulgaria,  resigned as spokesman for the Reformist Bloc at Monday's meeting  of its Executive Board and Citizens' Board.

According to him, the Reformist Bloc lacks joint positioning in the pre and post-election period and a statement of shared goals of parliamentary conduct. Parties enter into separate commitments for pre-and post-election conduct. This process culminated in a direct commitment to support the update of the national budget made at the August 1 meeting with the President, said Kanev. He added that this faced the Bloc's Executive Board with a fait accompli.

Kanev was referring to statements by the Reformist Bloc's  Meglena Kuneva and Bozhidar Loukarski, leaders of BCM and the Union of Democratic Forces, respectively, who indicated at the meeting with President Rosen Plevneliev that the Bloc could support the 2014 budget update.

Kanev said: "Under the circumstances the Bloc's will is shaped through contacts between some of the party leaderships and GERB, and [GERB leader] Boyko Borissov is in charge of the Bloc's leadership."

Accepting the spokesperson position is the closest step to the Bloc's leadership. Turning down this responsibility is a personal choice, reads the position of BCM's Executive Council.

Following the European parliament elections, despite the preferential election campaign, the unity in the Bloc was reaffirmed thanks to BCM and particularly its leader Meglena Kuneva. "Unity has been and continues to be a main value for us," reads the Bloc's position.

The text further says that the Reformist Bloc is a political union, which has never depended on unilateral decisions. According to the Bloc's founding agreement, the operational leadership is carried out via the Executive Council. The Citizen's Board is represented in the Executive Council equally with the parties. This is not an isolation, but a joint responsibility and the parties turning down territory, BCM says.

BCM recalls that according to the document, the Reformist Bloc's path is to turn into a unified political entity. BCM is backing this goal, reads the position of the Movement's Executive Council.

BCM continues to maintain that the meetings with other party and State leaders must be transparent, public and held with the participation of the Bloc's whole chairmanship, BCM says.

The Movement wishes the caretaker government success. According to BCM, its main priorities must be to deal with the aftermath of the destructive floods across the country, to conduct fair elections, sign the agreement with the EU for the next programming period and start a procedure for Bulgaria's accession to the EU banking union.