site.btaGERB Leader: Government Needs Coalition Agreement

GERB leader Boyko Borissov said here Saturday that the government needs a coalition agreement between GERB-UDF and Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB). He said that by way of comment on tensions between the two parties and a seven-item declaration with a reform pledge that CC-DB put out June 23.

"We need a coalition agreement with CC-DB, because that is the only way the real coalition works," Borissov said in Veliko Tarnovo which hosted a working meeting of GERB-affiliated mayors and MPs from the GERB-UDF group.

At the beginning of the meeting Borissov said that it was extremely important that the foreign minister, the defence minister and the services monitor very carefully what is happening in Russia and Ukraine. He described the ongoing events in Russia as "a civil war", and "a mutiny" which he said is "extremely dangerous".

He said that reforms are needed to lead to better funded and stronger services in Bulgaria.

Borissov stressed that since the first day of the Ukraine war Bulgaria has been exporting a huge amount of weapons to Ukraine, but this is done through intermediaries, which, in his words, "generates huge corruption" and should be investigated.

According to Borissov, the requested guarantees from the coalition partners CC-DB are proof that they have already understood that a signed coalition agreement is needed. He said that "our partners appoint ministers and deputy ministers without ever asking us", and "instead of setting seven conditions, a coalition agreement should be signed, of 300 pages if necessary, in which everything should be described in great detail - as coalition governments in Europe work".