site.btaNo Ongoing Talks between GERB-UDF and Continue the Change, Democratic Bulgaria, CC-DB Co-Floor Leader Iordanova Says

Neither Continue the Change (CC) nor from Democratic Bulgaria (DB) are holding ongoing negotiations with GERB-UDF, CC-DB Co-Floor Leader Nadejda Iordanova told journalists in Sofia on Thursday. "We have said insistently and very clearly in recent weeks that the first political force is responsible for a structured negotiation process for the first government-forming mandate," she stressed.

"Conversations through Facebook likes, TV interviews or statements at the plenary door are not conversations at all. There is also no invitation," Iordanova added.

Earlier on Thursday, GERB-UDF Floor Leader Boyko Borissov said that his parliamentary group is holding talks on government formation but did not specify with whom.

CC-DB Deputy Floor Leader Lena Borislavova said that the coalition is submitting to the National Assembly registry bills whose adoption is European Commission's condition for the second payment under the Recovery and Resilience Plan. These are the rules for the election of the members of the Commission for Anti-Corruption, approved by the EC, a bill on the protection of whistleblowers and a bill on personal bankruptcy. There has been a public discussion on them, the revisions have been included, Borislavova explained. "Our expectation is that in this National Assembly all politicians will take the issue seriously," she added.

Iordanova stressed that she expects the National Assembly Chair Nataliya Kiselova to organize the work of the Parliament so that the consideration of these bills starts as soon as possible. She recalled that Kiselova and the parliamentary group of the BSP - United Left had signed the declaration on cordon sanitaire (sanitary cordon) around Delyan Peevski's party Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) - New Beginning.

According to her, GERB is willing to nominate legal committee chair and so is the CC-DB.

Borislavova said that the parliamentary group intends to organize a round table on amendments to the Election Code, to which they will invite every political force in the legislation except MRF - New Beginning, as well as public organizations. One of the changes was related to the restoration of machine voting.

She confirmed that the second political force would continue to push MPs to work intensively, even canceling their Christmas break, so that important bills could be passed.

Borislavova said the President Rumen Radev's reasons for not inviting the MRF - New Beginning to consultations "sound good". The cleaner option was to invite them and ask them to leave as soon as they came so that he would not hold talks, she said. "It seems to me that the procedure was violated even though the reasoning is correct," she noted.