Deputy PM: Coalition Partners Have Retained Knee-Jerk Oppositional Reaction

Deputy Prime Minister Rumyana Bachvarova has accused the coalition partners of center-right party GERB of acting like opposition parties.

Bachvarova, as cited by dnevnik.bg, insisted that the relations between the parties participating in the ruling coalition had not reached a critical point.

She claimed, however, that turning to liberal party Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS) was a preferred option to a new round of elections, provided that the Citizens for European Development for Bulgaria (GERB) party lost the support of the parties forming the majority.

In a Tuesday interview for bTV, Bachvarova emphasized that some parties which were part of the government had retained the knee-jerk reaction of opposition parties.

Asked to comment on the support of DPS at the vote on the changes to the pension system, she said that DPS was an entity which represented a major part of Bulgarians and it was entitled to root for any decision it saw fit.

She underscored that the backing of DPS did not mean that GERB was preparing to form a coalition with the party.

Bachvarova went on to say that the letter of the 7 Ambassadors or EU countries expressing criticism of Bulgaria's judiciary was indicative of the forthcoming report of the European Commission under the Co-operation and Verification Mechanism (CVM).
She argued that Bulgaria had to brace for a critical CVM report about the developments over the past year, adding that the country had seen three governments change during the period.