site.btaUPDATED MRF Floor Leader Peevski: CC-DB Must Comply with Agreement, Leaving GERB to Decide Who Becomes Foreign Minister Post-Rotation

Approached by journalists here on Saturday, Movement for Rights and Freedoms floor leader Delyan Peevski said that Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB) should comply with their agreement with GERB-UDF made last year upon the Government's formation. After the rotation in the Cabinet planned for March, Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov should become Minister of Education and Science, and GERB should decide who will become Foreign Minister, Peevski specified. He was commenting on the post-rotation cabinet controversy between CC-DB and GERB, who have been unable to agree on who should head the Foreign Ministry after Minister Mariya Gabriel becomes prime minister.

Peevski commented that CC-DB are trying to twist things in the media. In his words, there is no demand on GERB's part to take the Foreign Ministry. "That ministry belongs to GERB, and GERB can decide what happens. CC-DB simply wish to take one more ministry," he argued, adding that if CC-DB take one more ministry, they would have taken everything, rendering the rotation meaningless.

On CC-DB's argument that if both the government and the Foreign Ministry are headed by GERB, that party will have too strong a voice in Bulgaria's foreign policy, Peevksi commented that even now, GERB leader Boyko Borissov chairs the parliamentary Foreign Policy Committee and GERB's Mariya Gabriel is Foreign Minister. GERB have zero demands, while CC-DB demand to take the single small ministry that GERB have; that cannot be the reason for the State to be toppled over, Peevksi argued.

"I talked with the colleagues [from GERB and CC-DB] that this has to stop. We should tell each other everything and rule Bulgaria stably, we have an extremely stable Euro-Atlantic parliament, we have a stable government. We cannot topple the State over due to someone's demands to find a comfortable, warm seat. He [Denkov] has an extremely good place, he is an exceptionally good education minister, and the MRF will back Academician Denkov for education minister," Peevski told journalists.

Peevski spoke to journalists on the sidelines of the 19th National Conference of the Youth MRF in Sofia.

The Conference was attended by over 500 delegates. They elected Tanzer Yuseinov and Ibraim Zaydenov co-chairmen of the Youth MRF and nominated Peevski and Dzhevdet Chakarov co-chairmen of the MRF. In a video address to the delegates, MRF Honorary Chairman Ahmed Dogan said that the co-chairmanship of two chairmen of the Youth MRF aims to "activate more people in the decision-making for our present and future".