site.btaIf They Fail to Agree with Potential Partners, BSP for Bulgaria Will Decline Cabinet-Forming Mandate between September 10 and 15

August 29 (BTA) - If they do not come to terms with the
three other parliamentary groups they have invited to
consultations, BSP for Bulgaria will decline their
cabinet-forming mandate between September 10 and 15, Bulgarian
Socialist Party (BSP) leader Kornelia Ninova told an
extraordinary news briefing in Parliament on Sunday ahead of the
 first round of talks, with Rise Up BG! Here We Come!

President Rumen Radev handed the third and last cabinet-forming
mandate to BSP for Bulgaria on Friday after the largest
parliamentary group, There Is Such a People (TISP),
unsuccessfully completed their mandate and the second largest
parliamentary group, GERB-UDF, immediately declined the second
mandate. Unlike the first two, the third parliamentary group
does not have to meet a deadline for picking a prime minister
designate, but once it does the designate will have a week to
fulfil the mandate or decline it. Before that, BSP for Bulgaria
would like to consult Rise Up BG!, There Is Such a People, and
Democratic Bulgaria.

"It is up to them to appear at these consultations," Ninova
said, adding that the idea is to have the parties state their
positions "publicly, in front of the cameras, at live-streamed
meetings." She would like the parties "at least to show some
common sense and form a majority that would speed up the
revision of the budget by cutting the time between the first and
 second reading", considering that motions can be tabled by
September 7 before the bill comes up for a second reading.

"We have set ourselves two objectives: to form a regular cabinet
 which could tackle the crises and to assemble a majority to
press ahead with changing the GERB governance model," the BSP
leader also said.

"We can choose between declining the mandate right away or
keeping it until we find an answer to the most pressing issues.
We take the second option," Ninova pointed out, arguing that "if
 we decline the mandate, we will leave the pensioners without a
pension increase and police, physicians and military without
adequate financing."

Agreed on Cabinet without GERB, MRF

At the consultations, the two parliamentary groups agreed that
they will not form or back a cabinet with the participation or
with the support of GERB and the MRF.

"If you see a cabinet-forming formula excluding GERB and the
MRF, count us in," Rise Up BG! Floor Leader Maya Manolova said,
specifying that "a cabinet at any cost is not a solution, as far
 as we are concerned, and we will not back it." She blamed TISP
leader Slavi Trifonov for refusing to assume a responsibility
for backing and sharing in a cabinet of the "parties of the
change" in both this and the previous parliament.

Manolova insisted on the need of TISP and Democratic Bulgaria
joining the cabinet-forming effort and said that if they do so,
Rise Up! will lend their support, too.

Rise Up! will second BSP for Bulgaria's motion to bring up the
second reading of the budget revision in the National Assembly.
In turn, they will expect the Socialists to back priorities that
 the coalition considers important and wants voted through
within the life of the incumbent Parliament: an increase of
pensions and child-care benefits, financial support for
transport, the tourism industry and agriculture to help them
survive the COVID-19 crisis, providing funding for tackling a
possible migrant crisis, containing the price hike of
electricity, heat and water for households, and resolving on the
 closure of the specialized courts and prosecution offices,
Manolova said at the consultations.

The chances of a cabinet being elected on the third mandate are
slim, considering that TISP (65 MPs) and GERB-UDF (63 MPs) have
committed to oppose such a proposal, and Democratic Bulgaria (34
 MPs), too, have said they will not back a government proposed
by the BSP. It is highly improbable that the MRF (29 MPs) will
vote in favour. This leaves just 49 certain votes in support of
a third-mandate Council of Ministers (36 from BSP for Bulgaria
and 13 from Rise Up!) in the 240-seat legislature. To be
elected, a proposed cabinet must be supported by more than half
of the MPs present. RY/LG

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