GERB leader and former prime minister Boyko Borissov is increasingly insistent that he will be elected prime minister of the next Bulgarian government, promising the country’s accession to the eurozone, but for now, his political bid has been rejected.

“If I am prime minister, we can make it to the eurozone in March. 12 December is our window where we can enter with a 3% deficit and if I am prime minister, we can talk about March 2025 for the eurozone to accept us. The world is rearranging itself, we can get out of the swamp in a month or two or three,” he said on Monday.

GERB won the last early elections in October with 24.6% of the vote but did not have the majority to form a government on its own, so it is seeking cooperation mainly with the liberal pro-European coalition We Continue the -range- Democratic Bulgaria (PP-DB).

The work of parliament is currently blocked because the political forces are unable to elect a speaker of the National Assembly and to start the process of electing a government.

Borissov is now proposing that in exchange for the premiership, the PP-DB representative should head parliament.

Bulgaria’s first stated goal was to adopt the euro on 1 January 2024, but the country has failed to pass the necessary legislation, and rising inflation has become an additional obstacle. At the earliest, Bulgaria’s next deadline to adopt the euro is mid-2025.

“I suggest we take it easy, try it for a few months. If it doesn’t work – we go to elections in February-March,” Borissov said.

One of the PP-DB’s conditions for negotiating a government with GERB is to impose a ‘sanitary cordon’ around the MRF-A New Beginning party of Delyan Peevski, which the US and the UK have sanctioned for corruption.

A few hours after Borissov’s speech, the PP-DB coalition rejected the proposal.

“The only solution to get out of the severe political crisis is to unlock the work of the parliament and form a pro-European government with an equidistant prime minister, guaranteeing the complete isolation of Peevski from all positions of power in the state,” commented the pro-European coalition, defining Borissov as unacceptable for the post of prime minister.

A month after the elections, Borissov has yet to begin formal negotiations to form a coalition and elect a regular government.

(Krassen Nikolov | Euractiv.bg)

Source: Euractiv.com