BSP suspends Talks with "We Continue Change" and Demands Kiril Petkov to Not be Prime Minister

Less than 24 hours after the expulsion of 70 Russian diplomats, BSP leader Kornelia Ninova announced that the Bulgarian Socialist Party has suspended all negotiations with "We Continue the Change" to form a cabinet. After a joint sitting in the National Assembly of the Executive Bureau of the Left party and its parliamentary group, the party decided it was ready to continue talks on a new government only if Kiril Petkov is not its prime minister.

Ninova reiterated some of her theses, written yesterday on Facebook, that such a decision by the Prime Minister is unprecedented. She reiterated that the decision to prosecute the diplomats was not made by the Council of Ministers, but by Petkov, alone. According to her, this could lead to the severance of diplomatic relations with Russia.

"We are stopping all negotiations with 'We Continue the Change' to form a new government. Once again Kiril Petkov makes individual decisions on issues that seriously affect the national policy - domestic and foreign. So far we have shown tolerance and understanding in the name of the common goal. We have set out to change Bulgaria's governance model. As this is another such decision, we will return to the negotiating table if 'We Continue the Change' and another prime minister proposes it," Ninova added.

She called on anyone who claims that the Council of Ministers has decided to expel Russian diplomats to provide evidence of this. According to her, there is one place where the issue can be resolved and that is the National Assembly.

"We want a closed session of parliament and a hearing of the head of the State Agency for National Security (SANS) on the report he prepared, which he apparently gave only to Kiril Petkov," the...