site.btaUPDATED CC-DB Says Next Steps Is GERB's Responsibility

Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB) Thursday told GERB that the next steps in the efforts to form a government is GERB's responsibility. "Dear colleagues in GERB-UDF, it is your responsibility to say how we can continue from here on. You acted unilaterally and at variance of all agreements - and the confidence given to you for the fulfillment of a joint mandate [for formation of a government with CC-DB]. Take the responsibility for your actions and propose a plan that is adequate to the crisis you have created. The next move is yours," the leadership of CC-DB said in a position made public by the coalition's press office. 

The statement reads that CC-DB are aware of the need to have a regular government to implement the reforms outlined in the draft agreement between CC-DB and GERB-UDF. CC-DB say that they remain accountable to the fate of the country and are ready to share the responsibility for joint governance, which can only happen if the formula of trust is restored and the implementation of reforms is guaranteed. 

The party says they viewed Nikolay Denkov and Mariya Gabriel as guarantors of the formula's implementation and have invested huge efforts in building trust in their integrity and sustainability. On March 19, 2024, Gabriel returned a fulfilled mandate without a final signed agreement on joint governance and without a final agreed composition of the Council of Ministers. This action has drastically broken the formula of trust and puts the country in the face of a new political crisis, the statement said. 

The text also reiterates that fulfilling a mandate to form a cabinet requires confidence in the figure of the prime minister, a fundamental prerequisite in the Constitution. "In the last nine months, we have begun to build a basic trust on a few fundamental principles: mandates are implemented as national, which means joint; all decisions on the composition of the Council of Ministers are to be taken jointly by the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister; all compromises are justified only insofar as they guarantee reforms and are in the interest of society as a whole," the position read.