Naturally, there were tensions in the ruling coalition over who would run the central bank for the next six years
Andrei Gyurov of “Continuing Change” or Lubomir Karimanski of “There is such a people” to head the BNB – this will be decided by lawmakers after the ruling coalition does not unite for a single candidacy, as written in the agreement between the four parties.
The names of the two lawmakers were submitted to parliament on Wednesday night, when the deadline for nominations expired.
On Wednesday, at 9 o’clock in the morning, the leader of ITN Slavi Trifonov was the first to call on Facebook that he was proposing Lubomir Karimanski for the BNB.
I know Mr. Karimanski well enough. I think you already know him. A turbulent year has passed in which you have read, watched, informed yourself, probably used your intuition and finally drawn your own conclusions. Somewhere during this time you have formed an opinion or impression about Lubomir Karimanski. Because the work he did was before your eyes. You have gained an idea of his expert and professional qualities, as well as his purely human qualities. Today you know that Lubomir Karimanski did not appear from somewhere at the last moment, he was here during all this turbulent timewrote Trifonov.
An hour later in parliament, Andrei Gyurov, chairman of the Continuing Change parliamentary group, confirmed to 24 Chasa that he had been nominated by the BNB and agreed after discussions and meetings with various groups. The professor of finance at the American University in Blagoevgrad expects support from the BSP and Democratic Bulgaria.
There are no tremors in the coalition at this stage. This is a normal process that we have clarified with our coalition partners. This is a very good option for MPs to determine the most suitable candidate, Gyurov added.
The next BNB governor must present expertise, integrity and consistency in his actions, Gyurov said, adding that he was convinced that he would push the bank through “these difficult times” to the eurozone.
After it became clear that there would be a competition between Gurov and Karimanski, ITN MP Stanislav Balabanov said: There is no tension in the coalition. There are no backroom deals. We have not agreed with GERB and MRF to support our candidate.
The leader of “Democratic Bulgaria” Hristo Ivanov in the parliament called for a joint candidacy for governor.
We discussed in a parliamentary group that we will not have our proposal for a BNB governor, and our call is to unite in the coalition. We need to be clear about the risk of going beyond the basic principle of this coalition – achieving common majorities on important issues. The management of the financial system is a fundamental issue. Who we will support, we will decide in a group, let there be officially submitted applications, said Ivanov.
As for the previously announced nominations, he said: This coalition is constantly holding on to some tension, so – yes, there is tension now.
The BSP, through MP Rumen Gechev, also announced that it would be good to have one candidate for the ruling coalition.
“..there are two options – the plenary hall to vote and someone to collect 50 + 1 votes or no one to collect them and start a new procedure. This will not be a good sign, because the BNB is a very serious institution. More than ever it is necessary its manager to be stable and well prepared, said Gechev.
When asked who the BSP would support – Gyurov or Karimanski, the answer was: if two or more candidacies are put to the vote, it is best for everyone to vote by conscience.
The MRF will not run for the BNB, said the movement’s deputy chief, Yordan Tsonev. When asked who they would support – Gurov told Karimanski: I do not answer hypotheses.
Deputies from all groups on Wednesday continued to discuss an option in which the current governor Dimitar Radev would receive a new mandate for the BNB, if neither of them – Karimanski and Gyurov, manage to attract 121 votes in parliament. However, such a move is almost impossible, as the new government obviously does not trust Radev despite his professional qualities. The reason? He was nominated by GERB and UDF in the previous term.
The parliament is already calculating which of the candidates is counting on which support. If the BSP, “Democratic Bulgaria” and “We continue the change” vote entirely unblock – Gurov has a hard 109 votes. If Karimanski attracts not only his colleagues from “There is such a people” but also the opposition from GERB and MRF, he will have 118 votes behind him. For the BNB Gyurov needs 12 more votes, and Karimanski – 3.
The 13 from “Vazrazhdane” would vote for this candidate, who is against the introduction of the euro in our country, and neither of them has announced such a direction, so the people of Kostadin Kostadinov are not considered in the equations yet. (24 hours)
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