site.btaUPDATED PM Denkov: Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria Won't Be a Screen

"We do not want elections, but we won't agree to be a screen so that someone can abandon what we consider priorities in the country," Bulgarian Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov told journalists here on Thursday, asked for comment on a timetable outlined by GERB leader Boyko Borissov earlier in the day related to the coalition agreement between the power-sharing parliamentary groups. In Borissov's words, "if by March 8 we have not agreed, we will vote on the resignation of the Denkov Cabinet and go to [early parliamentary] elections."

"When we formed this government, the priorities were clearly stated. They included amending the laws and the Constitution and filling the complement of the anti-corruption commission, the Supreme Judicial Council and the regulators," he said. "The first part has been largely fulfilled, when we fulfil the second part, we can talk about a coalition and longer-term governance."

According to Denkov, regulators should be an essential part of the deal.

The Prime Minister also said that currently the justice system is not working properly, the anti-corruption commission is not working, and there are problems in the prosecution service. "Until we have addressed these issues, we cannot move forward as if everything is fine," he said.  
 
"I will submit my resignation to the National Assembly, but until there is a parliamentary resolution on the resignation, the government remains in office," the Prime Minister said, asked about the date on which his cabinet will resign. 

According to an arrangement made in early June 2023 between the two largest groups in the incumbent Parliament, Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB) and GERB-UDF, Denkov and Mariya Gabriel of GERB-UDF were to rotate as prime minister and deputy prime minister over a nine-month period, starting with Denkov. Subject to this understanding, the two parliamentary groups plus the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) voted the Denkov Cabinet into office on June 6, 2023. The rotation was due to take place on March 6, 2024.

Approached about the parliamentary voting power needed to push ahead with the reforms and elect regulatory authorities, Denkov said that most of the National Assembly resolutions require a simple majority, for which the votes of CC-DB and GERB-UDF suffice. "For resolutions that require a qualified majority, negotiations may be held with the MRF, but a cabinet is voted into office by a simple majority, so we don't need the MRF for the election of Bulgaria's next government," the PM said.

In the 240-member legislature, GERB-UDF have 69 seats, CC-DB 63, and the MRF 36. A simple majority is 121 votes.