site.btaSecond Day of GERB Talks on Governance Policies, Only TISP Meets with Them

GERB-UDF had a second day of talks on its governance policies on Tuesday. It had booked three parties for meetings: BSP for Bulgaria at 11:00 a.m., There Is Such a People (TISP) at 13:00 and Velichie [Grandeur] at 15:00, but only the second meeting took place.

GERB sent Monday invitations for meetings to the parties and coalitions in the 50th National Assembly. The No1 political force in the legislature wanted to discuss with them "the issues affecting the agenda of the society and the possibility of supporting a government that would share the responsibility for governing Bulgaria".

The GERB-UDF negotiating team included Denitsa Sacheva, Raya Nazaryan and Temenuzhka Petkova. 

Having met with TISP, GERB said that the talks were held "in constructive spirit". Denitsa Sacheva said that the two sides discussed specific policies from the GERB governance programme.

"We left the door open for further talks on specific policies," added Sacheva. 

According to her, the composition and structure of a possible government were not discussed.

Sacheva also said, "The only sure thing at this stage is that GERB-UDF wants to forma  government. Neither the Movement for Rights and Freedoms nor There Is Such a People took a clear stance in support of a government." 

TISP deputy leader Toshko Yordanov told reporters that they "heard out the GERB ideas but no details were discussed".  "Now we have to hold a discussion with the colleagues [at TISP] and think about it all. We briefed them on our priorities. If we go into more detail, we will share it with you. It is the first meeting," Yordanov said.

He added that there was no talk of a government and reiterated his party's position in favour of a cabinet of experts. "Clearly, GERB have come to that idea themselves but it is a lot of work from the idea to the implementation," Yordanov said.

He also said, "I will ask you not to draw any big conclusions. It was an invitation from one political force to another. We went to the meeting and we would have done that no matter which political force sent the invitation." 

Socialists don’t show up

BSP for Bulgaria did not show up for talks with GERB-UDF.

Approached for comment, Irena Atanassova of the BSP leadership said that the party's Executive Bureau had decided not to go to the talks "because that would be a meeting for the formation of a government on the GERB mandate, and we have made a decision not to back a Cabinet with the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) on GERB's mandate". 

A decision not to back a GERB-MRF government was reconfirmed by the BSP National Council June 15. 

Velichie are refused leaders’ meeting they request

Asked if GERB expect to meet with Velichie, Sacheva said that they had received a letter from that party in which the leader asks to meet with GERB leader Boyko Borissov but such a meeting “is not taking place”.

TISP is the second parliamentary party to agree to meet with GERB-UDF. On Monday, talks were scheduled with Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria, the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) and Vazrazhdane, but of these only MRF showed up.

Vazrazhdane determined to be opposition

At a news briefing at the Vazrazhdane party’s headquarters here on Tuesday, deputy leader Tsoncho Ganev said that they "take a firm stand in opposition". In his words, Vazrazhdane has declined GERB-UDF’s invitation for talks on government formation because "policies that are not on people’s agenda will be pushed". Ganev said that his party will keep pursuing the priorities it has stood for so far.

"We want to run the country," Ganev said. He specified that his party’s goal has never been simply to be in power, part of the executive, but to propose policies that will facilitate the development of the country.