site.btaSocialists Move for No Confidence in Government over Environment, Water Policy

ESD 16:33:31 30-12-2019
VE1632ES.115
115 POLITICS - GOVERNMENT - NO CONFIDENCE

Socialists to Move
for No Confidence in Government
over Environment and Water Policy


Sofia, December 30 (BTA) - The Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) announced Monday that it is moving for a vote of no confidence in the government over what it sees as a failure of the environment and water policy. BSP leader Kornelia Ninova broke the news after the party's decision-making Executive Bureau and the leadership of its parliamentary group held an extraordinary meeting earlier in the day.

The announcement comes a day after Ninova visited the western town of Pernik where water supply has been rationed for one and a half months now since it transpired that the level of water in the town's potable water reservoir had gone critically low.

Ninova said the water crisis has affected not only Pernik but also other towns and regions of the country.

She was likely referring to Botevgrad, among other towns, whose mayor said in a radio interview this last weekend that the town's reservoir has water for six weeks only due to uncontrolled use of water by a privately owned hydroelectric power plant.

The no-confidence motion against the government will be submitted in the first few working days of the National Assembly in the new year, Ninova said. The legislature will resume its plenary sittings on January 15 after a Christmas recess.

"Incompetent policies, negligence and theft during [Prime Minister] Borissov's 10 years in power have left about half a million Bulgarians without access to drinking water. The water crisis in Pernik is becoming a national crisis, because other regions and towns are confronted by the same problem," she said.

She added that during the 10 years under Borissov, water prices have grown steadily for the Bulgarian people, but no measures have been taken to boost investments in the sector.

Ninova said: "Only 0.5 per cent of the water supply network has been replaced. Over 50 per cent of the water is lost. Our air pollution problem is the third most serious in the world, because Boyko Borissov's government allows waste to be imported from all over the world and to be burned in Bulgaria. We are breathing cancer and drinking poison."

According to the Socialist leader, criminal liability should be borne for the failure to address these issues in Pernik and elsewhere.

The BSP is open for dialogue with all other parliamentary parties concerning the support for the no-confidence motion, she said. LN/VE