site.btaGERB's Borissov Not in Position to Raise Conditions - CC Co-leader Vassilev

GERB leader Boyko Borissov is not in a position to raise conditions, Continue the Change (CC) co-leader Assen Vassilev told the media in Burgas on Sunday. He was commenting on Borissov's statement earlier in the day that GERB may hold negotiations with CC-DB after the "2 in 1" elections to the European and Bulgarian parliaments on June 9, provided that CC co-leaders Kiril Petkov and Assen Vassilev and ex-prime minister Nikolay Denkov stay out of the talks.

Asked whether he would nonetheless accept a resumption of the dialogue with Borissov, Vassilev said: "Let us wait until we see his programme, and then we can discuss the matter. We have not seen such a programme yet. You know that both [regular] governments produced by the recent series of six elections were CC governments which followed our programme."

Kiril Petkov, the other CC co-leader, said that the first question Borissov should answer is whether he will shake off his dependence on Movement for Rights and Freedoms leader Delyan Peevski. Petkov noted: "Peevski controls the so-called infrastructure: the prosecution service, the security services. Borissov controls the votes necessary to ensure that no reforms are made there."

"The point is that they should unhook from one another if we are to move forward. I do not expect that Mr Peevski will give up his power just like that. As long as Mr Borissov is bound by this dependence, he cannot do the things which all Bulgarians want: justice, competitive recruitment, no game fixing," Petkov argued.