„The National Council of the BSP made a clear decision that we will not support a government with either a GERB mandate or a DPS mandate. Nor do we intend to participate in any coalitions.“
This was stated by the deputy chairman of the BSP and elected representative of the Bulgarian socialists in the European Parliament, Christian Vigenin, in the BNT studio.
„GERB made a request that the Prime Minister and leading ministers will be from GERB. This type of government, whatever label is given to it, is a GERB government. It can't be done, he was categorical on the subject.
In his words, if it comes to the third mandate, the socialists will reconvene their National Council and make a decision.
„If we get the third mandate, we may reflect on our formula – an expert cabinet with broad parliamentary support. We do not shy away from this, but looking at it, we are very far from this option and it seems to me that we are moving towards a new assembly. We will not participate in this”, said Vigenin.
According to the socialist, from 2021 there is a downward trend in the results of the BSP in the elections and there are obviously fundamental problems that must be discussed and their solution sought. He pointed to the broken intra-party dialogue and constant internal conflicts as one of the reasons for this.
„Analyses and meetings in our party organizations have already begun. We believe that in this process, which will last several months, we will be able, within the framework of an active dialogue within the party, to really get to the real problems and come up with concrete solutions”, commented Christian Vigenin.
In his words, for the first time in a long time at a meeting of the BSP National Council, there was an atmosphere that was focused on how to make things better.
„The resignation of Cornelia Ninova gives a chance for this conversation to continue in a productive way. Whether this will happen depends to a large extent on us, and here is a great responsibility of the Executive Bureau and the vice-presidents to make a smooth transition to the next leadership,“, Vigenin also said.
He pointed out that the BSP is following its Statute with the meeting of the National Council convened on Saturday, which chose an acting chairman from one of the party's vice-chairmen and scheduled a direct election to be held in October.
„Everyone understands the need not to go ahead with personal ambitions at the moment, but together to try to reassure our members and sympathizers and give a clear signal that the BSP is far from being politically dead as some have tried to suggest , but on the contrary – a process is underway that will bring us back among the leading political formations in the country”, stressed Vigenin.
The head of the delegation of the Bulgarian socialists in the next European Parliament commented that in the future the tone with the European socialists will not be so sharp.
„Firstly, because I have always thought that we should focus on what unites us, not what we have differences on. And secondly, because on some of the controversial topics over the years, tendencies towards rapprochement have appeared – like migration, for example, on which many of the parties have hardened their positions and moved closer to ours. I am sure that on the issue of Ukraine, which is one of the divisive ones, sooner or later it will be realized that the effort should be towards achieving peace, and not towards inciting war”, Christian Vigenin explained.