Post by Bozur on Feb 17, 2005 13:47:24 GMT -5
Bulgaria’s government manages to survive no-confidence motion
SOFIA (Reuters) - Bulgaria’s government survived a no-confidence motion in Parliament yesterday launched by the opposition over what it called a failure to boost living standards in the EU candidate country.
Of 236 deputies present during the ballot, 128 voted for the centrist Cabinet of former king Simeon Saxe-Coburg, and 106 against.
The opposition needed the backing of 121 deputies for the no-confidence vote to succeed.
The result was expected after Saxe-Coburg’s two-party coalition, which ruled as a minority until this week, signed a power-sharing agreement with a small splinter party and raised its strength in the house to 131 of its 240 seats.
Although the ouster failed, it was an embarrassment for the former monarch, who has found that Bulgarians’ deep respect for his regal status has not appeased their anger over low wages, rampant graft and organized crime.
Ahead of the vote, opposition leaders attacked Saxe-Coburg’s team of Western-educated technocrats for failing to raise living standards and for declining levels of healthcare and education.
They also questioned a number of deals, including a billion-dollar highway project awarded without a tender in December and the failed sale of state tobacco firm Bulgartabak, over which they ousted Parliament Speaker Ognian Gerdzhikov last week.
Despite making deep reforms in the Balkan state’s economy, gaining a seat in NATO and staying on track to join the EU in 2007, Saxe-Coburg’s National Movement for Simeon II (NMS) party is expected to place a distant second to the opposition Socialists in elections expected in June.
www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/news/content.asp?aid=52887
SOFIA (Reuters) - Bulgaria’s government survived a no-confidence motion in Parliament yesterday launched by the opposition over what it called a failure to boost living standards in the EU candidate country.
Of 236 deputies present during the ballot, 128 voted for the centrist Cabinet of former king Simeon Saxe-Coburg, and 106 against.
The opposition needed the backing of 121 deputies for the no-confidence vote to succeed.
The result was expected after Saxe-Coburg’s two-party coalition, which ruled as a minority until this week, signed a power-sharing agreement with a small splinter party and raised its strength in the house to 131 of its 240 seats.
Although the ouster failed, it was an embarrassment for the former monarch, who has found that Bulgarians’ deep respect for his regal status has not appeased their anger over low wages, rampant graft and organized crime.
Ahead of the vote, opposition leaders attacked Saxe-Coburg’s team of Western-educated technocrats for failing to raise living standards and for declining levels of healthcare and education.
They also questioned a number of deals, including a billion-dollar highway project awarded without a tender in December and the failed sale of state tobacco firm Bulgartabak, over which they ousted Parliament Speaker Ognian Gerdzhikov last week.
Despite making deep reforms in the Balkan state’s economy, gaining a seat in NATO and staying on track to join the EU in 2007, Saxe-Coburg’s National Movement for Simeon II (NMS) party is expected to place a distant second to the opposition Socialists in elections expected in June.
www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/news/content.asp?aid=52887