Bulgaria PM Borisov Rules Out Running for President

Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov on Friday made clear he would not be a presidential candidate in the forthcoming election this autumn.

He told the Bulgarian National Television's Friday night talkshown Panorama he was determined to avoid a scenario where he would run for President and trigger early parliamentary elections.

"If anyone could benefit from snap elections now it is GERB as it would like to secure bigger comfort in Parliament... but the people will not approve it," Borisov added, stressing he would not like Bulgaria to spend another BGN 50 M on a new vote and lose a few months with an interim cabinet that could not address the need for reform.

Borisov's GERB party, the senior partner in the coalition government of Bulgaria, has 84 lawmakers in the 240-seat Parliament and is in a minority cabinet with several other parties.  

Commenting on EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker's assertions that monitoring on justice and internal affairs in Bulgaria (under the so-called Cooperation and Verification Mechanism) could be lifted by 2019, when the term of the current college expires, Borisov voiced his confidence Bulgaria could "catch up with Romania" within months.

Earlier this week, Juncker had told Romanian Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos that if Bucharest continues to show the good results stated in the last CVM report, the mechanism could soon be lifted.

His words sparked outrage among Borisov's opposition, which claimed the judicial reform planned by his cabinet was doing little to address the growing gap with Romania in terms of democratic development.