The no-confidence motion against the Borissov 3 cabinet over healthcare was rejected quickly by the Bulgarian MPs on Wednesday. The no-confidence motion was submitted again by the Bulgarian Socialist Party and was subject to three-hour discussions last Friday at the Bulgarian National Assembly. Little interest was shown in yesterday’s voting, because the result of the no-confidence motion was expected and because public attention was shifted towards the latest tension inside the ruling coalition.

On Wednesday morning the coalition council of the ruling coalition GERB-United Patriots had an emergency meeting in an attempt to ease the large public discontent stemming from the latest scandalous words of Bulgaria’s Deputy Premier Valeri Simeonov calling the mothers of children with disabilities “a group of shrill women who speculated with their children”. The co-chairman of the united Patriots and leader of Ataka party Volen Siderov was scandalized from this statement and insisted that Valeri Simeonov should resign from his position of Deputy Premier and Co-chairman of the United Patriots coalition. However, the other two formations in this coalition VMRO and NFSB decided that Simeonov should keep his positions. Otherwise, the people supporting the patriotic formations will be divided. Meanwhile, they ruled out the possibility for Siderov to top the list of the coalition for the forthcoming elections for European Parliament in the spring of 2019. 

At the insistence of the coalition council Deputy Premier Valeri Simeonov apologized to those who felt offended from comments addressed to the protesting mothers of children with disabilities. Several days ago Bulgaria’s Premier Boyko Borissov apologized from Brussels on behalf of the ruling coalition for Valeri Simeonov’s words. However, the protesting mothers demanded the resignation of Deputy Premier Simeonov.

Moreover, Bulgaria’s Deputy Premier Valeri Simeonov will head the future National Council for Integration of People with Disabilities, which is part of the new draft law on people with disabilities. The draft bill was approved with a consensus at first reading by the Committee on Labor, Social and Demographic Policies with the Bulgarian National Assembly.  Thus, in the spring of 2019 when most of the texts of the new bill will be enforced the Deputy Premier for Economic and Demographic Policy will become in charge of the National Council for Integration of People with Disabilities.

Tension within the ruling coalition pinned, but it has not been fully overcome. This process will coincide in the coming months with political consultations initiated by Bulgaria’s Minister of Healthcare aimed at reforming the poorly Bulgarian health system. The opposition cannot submit in the next six months another no-confidence motion over the same topic, but it may initiate a no-confidence motion over another field. However, it would not yield any different results, because in the past almost three decades all no-confidence motions in Bulgaria failed, apart from one- when the first government of the Union of Democratic Forces headed by Philip Dimitrov initiated a vote of confidence at the Parliament itself. However, this unique case is not likely to repeat any time soon.

English version: Kostadin Atanasov