site.btaUPDATED Vazrazhdane Leader: Party Will Sign CC-DB's Declaration in Return for Support for Referendum on Bulgarian Lev and Coal-powered Facilities

If Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB) sign a declaration supporting a referendum about preserving the Bulgarian lev and the preservation of coal-powered energy utilities, we will sign their declaration, Vazrazhdane leader Kostadin Kostadinov told Nova TV on Wednesday. 

On Tuesday, CC-DB's Kiril Petkov urged the other parliamentary groups in the 51st National Assembly to sign a declaration that they will not work with the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) - New Beginning parliamentary group in the future National Assembly in any form.

According to Kostadinov, this is the only way for CC-DB to prove that they are not dependent on Delyan Peevski.

"I expect 37 signatures backing both proposals," Kostadinov said. "If I don't get them, it means that CC-DB are together with Peevski once again," he added. "We need to see from them a real proof that they are against Peevski, because we can't accept talking about a cordon sanitaire against Peevski, but voting together with him," Kostadinov added. 

Kostadinov confirmed that his party will nominate its own candidate for speaker of Parliament.

"We will have our candidate, as we have always done," Kostadinov added, explaining that Vazrazhdane will vote either "against" or "abstain" for other candidates. 

Kostadinov confirmed that he did not believe in the fairness of the elections, but he also said that Velichie had not been robbed of votes. 

According to him, it is not the time to protest after the elections, but on the day of the vote itself. He said that if there had been at least one million more voters, the results would have been different. 

Vazrazhdane is not in isolation, it is an extremely important element for the stability of the country, because a stable government can exist only with the participation of Vazrazhdane, Kostadinov said.

Later, speaking also on Nova TV, CC-DB leader Kiril Petkov said that Vazrazhdane shouldn't try to push their programme through the declaration, recalling that CC-DB is against the proposals of Vazrazhdane about the coal-powered plants and euro area.

"We can't form a government with Vazrazhdane, they want to go to the East, we want to go to Europe," Petkov said on possible talks with other parties for a government.

Speaking in Varna later in the day, Kostadinov said that "despite what CC-DB said about sending us a declaration to establish a 'sanitary cordon' around Delyan Peevski and MRF-New Beginning, we have not received anything today." Kostadinov added that this just goes to show that it is all "merely a publicity move" on CC-DB's part.

The Vazrazhdane leader said that once his party receives such a declaration, they will submit two of their own proposals to CC-DB: one to hold a referendum on retaining the Bulgarian lev, and another to preserve Bulgaria’s thermal power plants, mining, and coal industries. "There is no way we can trust people who were governing alongside Peevski just five months ago," Kostadinov added. He noted that if there is to be talk of a "sanitary cordon", Vazrazhdane makes no distinction between CC-DB and their coalition partner, Peevski, with whom they amended the Constitution.