site.btaUPDATED PM: Substantive Talks on Prime Ministerial Rotation Will Begin with Implementation Principles

"The substantive talks will indeed start today [Friday], but they will start with the principles under which the rotation will be implemented, " Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov said at a briefing in Parliament. The approach is to be discussed later, Denkov added.  

"The approach that I think is right is to make changes only where there is a serious need, because the implementation of the governance programme requires one to be able to start from day one. Naturally, if a new person comes, he will need time to adapt," the prime minister said.

Denkov said that the discussion on the approach will be first between him and his deputy and Foreign Minister Mariya Gabriel. He expressed special thanks to GERB leader Boyko Borissov for the fact that he also expressed this thesis publicly - "first we should find a consensus with her on how to approach it, then with this consensus we should go to the heads of the parties from which we expect support and convince them that this is the right approach".

"In this line of thought, I say from now on that in the coming days you will not hear anything from me about names of ministers because this conversation must first take place between Gabriel and me and when we have clarity, when we see what are the possibilities for support of the political forces, only then we will discuss names. We have two more months and during these two months the state must work, the ministers must work. We cannot afford two months to talk about rotation and not work seriously on the programme," Denkov said.  

The prime minister commented that it was absolutely frivolous for a mistake by a clerk to be a reason to replace Defence Minister Todor Tagarev. The comment was made in connection with the failure to extend an invitation to the Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly for an event on Epiphany, which was organised by the Defence Ministry. The failure to send these invitations, whatever discomfort it may have created, cannot be grounds for changing a minister, Denkov added. 

He commented that in general any of the ministers could move on and stay in the regular cabinet. Asked whose mandate the next government should have, Denkov pointed out that for him this was a completely technical issue. For me it is very important to move as smoothly and quickly as possible to the work of the next cabinet. These discussions about the rotation distract the attention of the ministers, Denkov pointed out. On his role, whether he will be a minister without portfolio, Denkov pointed out that it has not been decided yet and different options are being discussed.