Green Movement party leaves "WCC-Democratic Bulgaria" for June 2024 elections

The Green Movement party has decided to run in the June 9 European and national elections in a format different from the "We Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria" (WCC-DB) coalition, the party said on April 15.

The current format has proven to be insufficiently effective in defending democratic principles and advocating key reforms for Bulgaria, the Green Movement said.

The party noted that the voting of this decision at the National Council was preceded by a broad consultation of party members, which also showed support for not standing as part of the WCC-DB coalition.

The party's decision is to run on its own or in another coalition, the Green Movement said in its release.

"Considering all the difficulties in the work of the recent regular government, in which the Green Movement did not elect a minister, the main problem is the lack of progress in the set priorities and reforms," the party said. Our voters were expecting both significant reforms in terms of the Constitution, the justice system and regulatory bodies, as well as positive changes related to the environment, the inclusion of members of the public in decision-making processes, a sustainable energy transition, and increased fairness in society,” the Green Movement added.

“The will, ideas and efforts for the reforms, which society and the economy of Bulgaria sorely need, lost pace. The compromises made did not lead to a significant improvement in the quality of life of citizens or the implementation of the promised changes and caused a loss of confidence in the current coalition.

“We thank the partners from WCC-DB for the work we did together and the successes achieved and consider that in the future we have many more efforts ahead of us in our common causes for more democracy, modernisation of the economy and justice in the Bulgarian society,” the statement said.

The party points out that the decision is also influenced by the fact that the party belongs to a separate European political family - the European Greens, as well as the decision of the National Assembly of the Green Movement, which does not allow coalition with the parties of the status quo, which are undoubtedly GERB and MRF.

The Green Movement has traditionally attracted a wide participation of civil activists in its election candidate lists.

"Participation in a new form is considerably more difficult and with many unknowns, but in the Green Movement we have the courage to defend without compromise our causes for clean nature and honest politics, as we have always done so far in the 16-year history of the party.

The European Green Party's campaign slogan for the European elections is "Choose Courage". Our decision follows this spirit of courage and civic intransigence,” the Green Movement said.