The GERB party withdrew from talks to form a new government, despite an earlier agreement with the PP-DB to appoint former European Commissioner Maria Gabriel as prime minister, according to Euractiv.
Bulgaria is preparing for its sixth general election in three years amid political instability jeopardising the country’s efforts to join the euro zone and achieve full Schengen membership. The PP-DB agreed to replace current Prime Minister Nikolai Denkov with Maria Gabriel as part of Bulgaria’s government change, but the process collapsed. Denitsa Sacheva of GERB’s negotiating team stated after the talks on Sunday:
Everything is over. After the elections, we will restart [negotiations]. This political blackmail [by the PP-DB], which was exercised against our party, it’s high time this should be stopped.
The party announced that it was withdrawing from negotiations with PP-DB, citing disputes over political control over some ministries.
Dimitar Ganev, a political expert from the sociological agency Trend, argued that unless early parliamentary elections were combined with the European Parliament elections, voter turnout would be very low due to the fatigue of the Bulgarian electorate. Ganev added that the same parties would probably have to negotiate to form a government after the elections as the country had no political alternative at the moment.
