GERB leader Borissov: Talks on PM rotation start on Thursday

On Thursday morning, the partners in the "non-coalition" start talks about the regulators and how the rotation of Prime Ministers will happen in early March, GERB leader, Boyko Borissov, said in the city of Targovishte on January 9.

Borissov assured that whomever the “We Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria” (the other partner in the ruling majority) proposed for Speaker of the National Assembly in the rotation, they could count on 69 votes from his parliamentary group. He also said that deliberately no minister would be put by GERB-UDF as a condition for the future of the cabinet.

According to Boyko Borissov, the "non-coalition" has managed to learn coalition politics for the 9 months n government together. He noted that they had done all the work on their agreement with “We Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria”.

"This rotation, it is like docking in an orbital space station. It's never been done before, it's complicated, but it's the only thing that's possible right now in Bulgaria to actually have sustainability. So, starting from nowhere, I think at the moment we have a huge amount of work done that even we can’t believe we done so much. Practice has shown that any statement made prematurely may bring liabilities. On Thursday at 8.30, I think we had agreed, we will start the talks. It would be correct to wait for the WCC-DB leader, Kiril Petkov, to come back and we start the talks, in a package. on all regulators, constitutional judges, the rotation", GERB leader said.

Borissov assured that there would be no deliberate changes of ministers.

"There are two important figures - the most important figures - this is Nikolai Denkov (ed.n. current Prime Minister) and Mariya Gabriel (Editor's Note: the next one - currently Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs). They, the two of them, have to evaluate the work of each minister, each deputy minister, each governor. When they are ready on the basis of their assessment, they will come to ask for the support of the parliamentary groups for these ministers, then we will also have our say, but I can say that no minister will be deliberately put by us to go or not to go," he pointed out.

GERB leader also commented on the idea of business associations to boycott Austrian business because of Schengen.

"This would be wrong. I want to remind and give them advice if - of course - they want to listen. The Austrian business, in the face of their biggest companies, all their assets located in Bulgaria, worked with us for Bulgaria's accession to Schengen and now they could be an even bigger engine for the inclusion the land borders," Borissov said.(Editor's Note: Bulgaria's air and sea ports are to be included in Schengen from March 31, 2024, while a date for the inclusion of the country’s land borders is yet to be negotiated)

The GERB leader advised Bulgarian business to send a delegation to Austria to demand Bulgaria’s full admission to Schengen.

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Bulgaria's center-right GERB party, which won a narrow victory in April 2, 2023 early parliamentary elections, reached a compromise with the second-placed “We Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria” alliance to form a government.

GERB-UDF and "We Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria" agreed on a rotating PM: Nikola Denkov, will lead the government for the first nine months, with Gabriel as his deputy and foreign minister and Denkov will then swap seats with Gabriel, who was the GERB party’s nomination for PM.

GERB-UDF, We Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria agreed on a rotating PM with the second mandate - Denkov and Gabriel will change every 9 months