The Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB) parliamentary group on Friday reaffirmed last month's Denkov-Gabriel declaration for responsible governance of Bulgaria and proposed seven safeguards for its implementation, CC co-leader Kiril Petkov told journalists.
"If these safeguards are breached, we will demand the government's resignation," Petkov warned.
The proposed seven safeguards are: a single board in charge of appointments to regulatory institutions; adherence to the approved common legislative programme; a roadmap for judicial and constitutional reforms; a reform in the special services; a coordinated counter-corruption commission law; a revision of the Election Code; and a joint stance on the lawfulness of the Vazrazhdane party's campaign for a referendum on whether Bulgaria should adopt the euro.
Petkov said: "The Bulgarians need calm; they need a genuine reform, not a bogus one." He also noted: "Bulgaria needs this reformist government to last and to avert a political crisis, but this should not come at the expense of captured regulators and would-be reforms."
The ex-prime minister invited the GERB-UDF coalition to negotiations for formalizing the proposed safeguards as a Reformist Programme Safeguard Mechanism. According to CC-DB, the document should be signed by Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov, Deputy Prime Minister Mariya Gabriel and the floor leaders of CC-DB and GERB-UDF.
CC-DB stated in a written declaration that Bulgaria needs a regular government and a functioning parliament to end the multiple crises plaguing the country, to ensure stability and a regular state budget, and to confirm the nation's European path.
"This week, GERB-UDF have blatantly disregarded their commitments and openly violated the joint declaration issued by Mariya Gabriel and Nikolay Denkov at the time that the present government was voted into office," the declaration said. Among GERB-UDF's alleged wrongdoings, CC-DB listed the start of procedures for electing leaders of regulatory authorities (the National Audit Office, the National Health Insurance Fund and the Bulgarian National Bank) without coordination with CC-DB, and a failure to coordinate the implementation of the joint legislative and governance programmes.
"All these violations have been committed in the space of a single week through interaction and coordination with the Movement for Rights and Freedoms and with Vazrazhdane, instead of working with CC-DB," the declaration said.
"CC-DB will not let the regular government be used as a cover-up for hidden majorities and interactions in Parliament involving parliamentary groups which do not share our stated principles of governance and our views about the direction of Bulgaria's development," the declaration said.
/RY, DT/
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