site.btaUPDATED CC's Governing Body Says Talks on Parliament Chair Are Conditional on Support for Sanitary Cordon

Speaking to reporters following a meeting of the National Council of Continue Change (CC) here on Saturday, CC co-leader Kiril Petkov said that the Council "has mandated the party’s leaders not to enter discussions regarding the chairmanship of the National Assembly or any further talks unless there is support for a cordon sanitaire" (sanitary cordon) around Movement for Rights and Freedoms-New Beginning leader Delyan Peevski.

"At a coalition council meeting with Democratic Bulgaria (DB), we have decided to make the final decision. At this stage, we, as leaders, have been mandated by the National Council to consider the most effective strategy," Petkov said. He added that the decision could also be adopted as a collective decision by the parliamentary group.

The party’s governing body has given a "firm mandate" to ensure that the Prosecutor General is not selected by the Supreme Judicial Council, whose term of office has expired. 

The National Council obliges CC’s leaders and MPs to stick to these two points, Petkov added. 

The National Council has also authorized discussions within the coalition council between CC and DB, scheduled for Sunday, to determine the best possible candidate from their parliamentary team for the role of National Assembly chairperson.

Petkov said they will not name any names before they have spoken to their coalition partners, adding that the National Council has authorized them to discuss candidates only with political forces that support the cordon sanitaire.

Commenting on a protest scheduled to be held by the MRF-New Beginnings outside Parliament on Monday, CC's Nikolay Denkov argued that it is intended to obscure issues related to election violations. He added that “there is no doubt that Peevski has some supporters and can bring thousands to Sofia, but this does not change the fact" that there have been alerts of forged vote counts. Denkov reiterated CC’s call for a comprehensive check of the election results, adding that their petition to the Constitutional Court is in preparation and the filing deadline will be met.

Asked whether these conditions would hinder possible government formation talks with GERB, Denkov said that "GERB’s cooperation with Peevski is blocking Bulgaria's development, so as long as they are making decisions together, we have no place there".

He said that the Alliance for Rights and Freedoms had agreed that they would vote on key anti-corruption laws "to counteract Peevski's power grab". Denkov added that his party wants Parliament to function, but they "see that GERB, which is currently responsible for building a majority, is not making any efforts in this regard". "The question is for them - will they even attempt to reach out?" he said.