site.btaNew Bulgarian Parliament: GERB-UDF Vows to Be Strong, Constructive, Competent Opposition

July 21 (BTA) - Addressing the new Bulgarian Parliament
during its inaugural meeting Wednesday, GERB-UDF floor leader
Dessislava Atanassova said that her parliamentary group will be
a strong, constructive and competent opposition. She said that
GERB are ready for political dialogue and work to rebuild the
burnt bridges, but are not going to support a government
"working through thematic majorities".

With 63 MPs in the 240-seat National Assembly, GERB-UDF are the
second biggest parliamentary group. 

"Our main opponent are not going to be the ruling parties,
whoever they are, but chaos. We do not read the election result
as a victory of a given political force," Atanassova said.

She slammed the caretaker government for its actions and said it
 put open pressure on members and supporters of GERB in the
runup to the July 11 elections. In her words, the caretaker
government "drew new divisive lines in the Bulgarian society".
"We are witnessing fragmentation of the political system and
impossibility to form a stable government," she said.

Atanassova also slammed presumed government priorities of the
first party to try to form a government, There Is Such a People
(TISP), which transpired during a recent TISP news conference
and which Atanassova summed up as "motorway concessions,
slashing public spending, privatization of the Bulgarian
Development Bank and a programme that will destroy the
infrastructure of small and mid-sized businesses".  ZH/LN