The first sitting of the new 47^th National Assembly of Bulgaria will be held on December 3, the press service of the Bulgarian head of state has announced. Meanwhile, the first round of talks on forming a coalition government with the mandate of "We Continue the Change" political party is now over. Its purpose was to identify the priority changes needed by the state in various sectoral policies. The members of the next Council of Ministers are to be determined this week. Talking to the Bulgarian National Television, Nastimir Ananiev, elected MP from the new parliamentary formation, has voices his hope that this will happen by December 6^th after which the proposal will be submitted for voting in plenary.

What have the negotiations shown so far?

According to the MP from Democratic Bulgaria Elisaveta Belobradova, the political parties still do not even have the financial estimates for the priorities they have agreed on.

"Everyone who knows the political processes should be aware that it is not possible to reach agreements within four days to the smallest detail, which would be the answer to every problem," she told BNR. Belobradova described the publicity of the negotiations as a positive phenomenon, as it reduces the likelihood of backstage games and agreements.

The chairman of the strategic council with the Bulgarian Presidency, Alexander Marinov, is also convinced that the approach of the parties to conduct negotiations openly is the right one.

"Public trust in politicians and parties is reaching a freezing point. At the moment there are no significant differences, there are differences in specific details, but the approach is quite pragmatic - the differences are left behind."

As for the talks about the members of the future cabinet, Lena Borislavova from "We Continue the Change” is firm in her opinion:

"One of the conditions that will be set in the selection of candidates for future ministers is that they have zero tolerance for corruption. In other words, the proposed candidates should be people who have not participated in corruption schemes and have worked in the best common interest of all of us."

It is clear that the future government will not be formed in front of the camera, which broadcasts everything online, writes the MP from the Reformist Bloc Boris Stanimirov on the social network.

Although with some reservations, mostly because of the presence of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) in the talks, he describes them as a strong move by the leaders Kiril Petkov and Asen Vassilev.

The new political project "We Continue the Change" initiated by Petkov and Vassilev won the elections "riding the wave of great public fatigue and intolerance to a sticky backstage presence that used to decide the fate of the state, of public money and of certain individuals in obscene telephone conversations. After this collective trauma, every appearance of men who are clean-shaven, put on suits and sit down for open conversations already creates a feeling of change, and it is definitely for the better,” Stanimirov adds in his publication.

Whether a consensus will be reached and what the time horizon will be for the next regular government of Bulgaria remains yet to be seen. Political scientist Dimitar Ganev is convinced that a possible break-up of the coalition may occur not due to non-compliance with the agreement between its participants, but at a time when one of the formations decides that it feels in a good enough position to perform well at possible early elections.

Compiled by Yoan Kolev (based on interviews aired on BNR’s Horizon Channel)

English version Rositsa Petkova