site.btaReformist Hristo Ivanov: I Want Bulgaria to Continue to Have a Government

Ex-justice minister Hristo Ivanov believes that the current government formula is the only possible one at present. The co-leader of the Democratic Bulgaria coalition, which, together with Continue the Change, forms one of the political forces behind the government, said on Bulgarian National Radio (BNR) on Sunday, as quoted in a Democratic Bulgaria press release: "This government owes its existence to its ability to pursue its goals slowly and assiduously - the goals of Schengen membership, a state budget ensuring entry to the eurozone, constitutional amendments to strengthen the rule of law, and sustainable institutional prerequisites to clean up the corrupting environment."

Ivanov said: "I want Bulgaria to continue to have a government because of the situation we are in, and also because the main rationale of the Constitution is that a country should have a government. I suppose every responsible Bulgarian citizen wants Bulgaria to have a government. The present government is the only one I can imagine, and it has shown that it can produce results. When a better and realistic alternative comes up, I will want it to be considered."

He noted that even the opposition is unable to propose a different formula and has given up on its strategy of filing no-confidence motions one after another.

He described as "absurd" the assertion that the bill to amend the Constitution is his own personal job. He argued that the proposed revisions rest on texts which have been repeatedly discussed and modified in the National Assembly Committee on Constitutional Affairs and on political and constitutional ideas developed over the course of decades.

"The notion that these ideas are the brainchild of a single individual is absurd. The various stages of unveiling the project and working on it have been open to the public. Initially, it started from texts compiled by experts of Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria [CC-DB], which were subsequently discussed with anyone inclined to support them," Ivanov said.

He went on to refute criticism that the original CC-DB bill was revamped by other partners in the constitutional majority. He noted that he does not mind criticism, because it improves the reform project and enhances its legitimacy.

"The bill has evolved in a perfectly natural and normal way. It started from a set of very clear, big political goals: independent courts, a prosecution service under public control, a chief prosecutor who is not all-mighty, a caretaker government which is no longer the president's government, regardless of who the president is, but a neutral technical cabinet whose job is to organize elections rather than to do politics, and broader access to constitutional justice for the citizens. These are the big political goals."

Asked whether it is feasible to get the constitutional reform package through all necessary votes of the full National Assembly by the end of this year, Ivanov pointed to two key factors. One is "the fragile nature and the frequent turbulence of the government amalgamation", and the other is "the ongoing negotiations on Schengen, which require that the reform is made on time". He pointed to an existing consensus that the National Assembly should give priority to the constitutional amendments and the state budget, and should leave it until after New Year's Day to discuss new appointments to regulatory authorities whose leaders' terms of office have expired.

"We in CC-DB hold that the quota rule for sharing out the seats in the regulatory authorities should not be overriding or definitive, nor should it be the only rule. We will try to ensure that quality matters. There is a parliamentary tradition of letting the opposition share in the decisions of the regulators. It would make sense to observe that tradition. Nothing is agreed until everything is agreed. I am optimistic that if we approach our task with reason, we will not just avoid a crisis, we will show we can produce good news," Ivanov argued.

Asked to comment on calls for ministers' resignations, he said these are more of rhetorical outbursts and a way for political leaders to demonstrate strength to their fellow party members.

BNR also asked Ivanov about his opinion on the radio's decision to take down an interview with Russian Ambassador to Bulgaria Eleonora Mitrofanova, including suspicions that the pro-government Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) played a part in the decision. He said: "If the MRF caused the interview to be taken off the air, this implies cooperation from the BNR management. We should all be aware that it is inadmissible for politicians to interfere in BNR's programming. Bulgaria has no use for that. At the same time, it is very important to make sure that there are clear standards to follow when it comes to BNR. To rise up to these standards - as applicable to said interview and programme - it is essential that your programming board comes up with a detailed report about the case. Was the interview coordinated? Why and on what grounds was it taken down? What was the programming concept? If its content was problematic in some way, what norms and standards did it violate?"