site.btaUPDATED CC-DB Cannot Form Cabinet under Second Mandate, Ready to Return It

It became clear on Wednesday that there is no support for the approach of Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB), putting the parliamentary group in a situation where they cannot form a government under the second exploratory mandate, Bozhidar Bozhanov MP of CC-DB told a news briefing on Thursday. CC-DB co-leader Kiril Petkov said they would not waste time and are ready to return the mandate once the head of State gives it to them.

CC-DB Deputy Floor Leader Lyudmila Ilieva said that there had been a general feeling that their approach to the talks on cabinet formation was received positively. "For the first time we saw harsh opponents in the plenary hall sitting to talk with good will with a single purpose: to find a way out of this dead end we are placed in. That is why we assess the process itself of the talks with the other parliamentary groups as positive," she added. In her words, this approach will be followed and put as a basis for solving the pressing political problems in Bulgaria.

Petkov thanked President Rumen Radev for giving CC-DB the opportunity to hold talks with other parliamentary groups.

On Monday, at a meeting with President Rumen Radev, the CC-DB asked President Radev for a postponement of the handing of the second cabinet-forming mandate to them in order to seek broad support for their declaration containing a counter-corruption legislative package. On Wednesday, CC-DB representatives discussed their declaration on the way out of the political crisis in Bulgaria with the other parliamentary groups, excluding the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF).