BULGARIA: Bulgaria's parliament votes on the resignation filed by the cabinet of Prime Minister Oresharski.
Record ID:
328935
BULGARIA: Bulgaria's parliament votes on the resignation filed by the cabinet of Prime Minister Oresharski.
- Title: BULGARIA: Bulgaria's parliament votes on the resignation filed by the cabinet of Prime Minister Oresharski.
- Date: 24th July 2014
- Summary: RESENDING WITH FULL SCRIPT SOFIA, BULGARIA (JULY 24, 2014) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR VARIOUS OF NATIONAL ASSEMBLY INTERIOR PARLIAMENT SESSION VARIOUS OF PRIME MINISTER AND MINISTERS ENTERING PARLIAMENT HALL, TAKING SEATS CAMERAMAN ON BALCONY (SOUNDBITE) (Bulgarian) PRIME MINISTER PLAMEN ORESHARSKI SAYING: "The relations between the parliamentary groups which have supported this government in the past have deteriorated over the last month and this was the reason for our resignation. Our cabinet continues to work in order to comply with our political obligations and arrangements until the date for elections, which has been set to October 5, and not because either they or I were keen on keeping our positions." ORESHARSKI AND MINISTERS ACCEPTING APPLAUSE OF MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT MICHAIL MIHOV, SPEAKER OF PARLIAMENT, ANNOUNCING VOTING PROCEDURE LCD DISPLAY ON WALL SHOWING RESULTS OF VOTE MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT APPLAUDING ORESHARSKI AND MINISTERS EXITING HALL LEADER OF "GERB" PARTY, BOIKO BORISOV, TALKING TO MEDIA (SOUNDBITE) (Bulgarian) BOIKO BORISOV, LEADER OF "GERB" PARTY, SAYING: "They ignored the first political power (last elections, in 2013) and the fact that the voters voted for us. They decided to form some non-transparent coalitions and failed, but unfortunately they ruined the country as well. This fact is clear for everybody, they would not offer their resignation if this was not true." PEOPLE OUTSIDE PARLIAMENT CHEERING BECAUSE GOVERNMENT RESIGNED POSTER PRESENTING PINK GLOVE READING "FAREWELL TO COMMUNISM" SOFIA, BULGARIA (RECENT) (REUTERS) CORPORATE COMMERCIAL BANK - CLOSED FOR ONE MONTH BY NATIONAL BANK SIGN "CORPORATE COMMERCIAL BANK" VARIOUS OF NATIONAL BANK VARIOUS OF NATIONAL ASSEMBLY BUILDING
- Embargoed: 8th August 2014 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Bulgaria
- Country: Bulgaria
- Topics: Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA8HQBGSWRDXVQUF1BX9A91UMYT
- Story Text: Bulgarian lawmakers voted overwhelmingly to accept Prime Minister Plamen Oresharski's resignation on Thursday (July 24), paving the way for an interim government to take over in August and a snap election in early October. With a huge majority of 180-8 (8 abstained), they gave green light to the move submitted by Oresharski earlier.
Oresharski's departure leaves his successor to sort out the Balkan state's worst banking crisis since the 1990s, with the fate of its fourth largest lender undecided. Bulgaria's credit default swaps rose on Thursday to their highest level since July 4, according to Markit, the financial information services company, as investors sought insurance against losses.
In power for just over a year, Oresharski resigned on Wednesday (July 23) after a poor showing by his Socialist party in May's European elections. Those results had also led the Socialists' junior coalition partner to withdraw its support.
Approval of his resignation was largely a formality after Bulgaria's political parties had agreed to hold early polls. The vote was 180 approving the resignation, eight opposing, and eight abstaining.
Political instability has plagued the European Union's poorest state over the past two years. Failure to tackle problems such as endemic corruption and inefficient state firms prompted a sovereign credit rating downgrade in June.
"The relations between the parliamentary groups which have supported this government in the past have deteriorated over the last month and this was the reason for our resignation," Oresharski told the parliament. "Our cabinet continues to work in order to comply with our political obligations and arrangements until the date for elections, which has been set to October 5, and not because either they or I were keen on keeping our positions."
The opposition GERB party had threatened to boycott the plenary session if the resignation was not part of the agenda.
"They ignored the first political power (last elections, in 2013) and the fact that the voters voted for us," said the leader of GERB, Boiko Borisov, after the voting to accept the resignation. "They decided to form some non-transparent coalitions and failed, but unfortunately they ruined the country as well. This fact is clear for everybody, they would not offer their resignation if this was not true."
With the government gone, it is unclear how Bulgaria plans to rescue Corpbank and to what extent it will protect its depositors and dollar bondholders. Parliament had earlier rejected a proposed rescue package, which would have hived off Corpbank's good assets and liabilities to a subsidiary. Bulgaria's Sofix index was down 0.17 percent as of 1009 GMT on Thursday, after the vote by lawmakers.
The main opposition, centre-right GERB party is expected to top the Oct 5 polls. But it may struggle to get an outright majority.
Bulgaria, a country of 7.3 million people, also needs to overhaul its education system to make its workforce more efficient and to clean up its graft-prone healthcare system.
Oresharski ruled in a minority coalition that relied on the outside support of the nationalist Attack party to survive a series of no confidence votes. The persistent instability prompted ratings agency Standard & Poor's to downgrade Bulgaria to one notch above junk in June, before the banking crisis erupted. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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