(22 Jun 2022)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Sofia - 22 June 2022
1. Wide of parliament hall prior to no-confidence vote
2. Various of Bulgarian Prime Minister Kiril Petkov, Deputy Prime Minister Assen Vassilev and other cabinet members attending the parliament session
3. Mid of parliament speaker banging gavel UPSOUND (Bulgarian) Miroslav Ivanov, Bulgarian Parliament Speaker:
"We have a quorum. The sitting is opened."
4. SOUNDBITE (Bulgarian) Miroslav Ivanov, Bulgarian Parliament Speaker:
"We are voting on the no-confidence motion of the government of Prime Minister Kiril Petkov."
5. Close of member of parliament voting
6. Display of the vote (UPSOUND):"The vote has succeeded."
7. SOUNDBITE (Bulgarian) Kiril Petkov, Bulgarian Prime Minister:
"We promise that we will continue in this battle to regain the state and one day we will have a Bulgaria without a mafia, a successful, prosperous European country. Thank you!"
8. Petkov greets cabinet members
9. Various of pro-government protesters gathered outside parliament building after the vote
10. Wide of rally as protesters applaud parliament members, part of coalition
11. Various of Petkov greeting people as he joins the protest
12. SOUNDBITE (Bulgarian) Kiril Petkov, Bulgarian Prime Minister:
"This move is a small step towards winning the victory. This move cannot stop us because we are together, you are the guarantor that Bulgaria will look different after the next elections."
13. Wide of protest
14. Wide of Pektov chanting with crowd UPSOUND (Bulgarian) Kiril Petkov, Bulgarian Prime Minister: "Victory!"
15. MPs from 'We continue the change' party applauding their supporters
16. Top shot of protesters
17. Petkov leaving
STORYLINE:
Lawmakers in Bulgaria on Wednesday approved a no-confidence motion against the country's minority coalition government that could topple the centrist prime minister and further stall efforts by Balkan countries to join the European Union.
The center-right opposition party GERB filed the motion last week, accusing the government of mishandling public finances and economic policy and failing to tackle soaring inflation. The no-confidence vote passed 123-116 with no abstentions.
Just after the vote, Prime Minister Kiril Petkov pledged to continue to struggle for reform — his key campaign pledge — in the EU's poorest member state.
"We promise that ... one day we will have a Bulgaria without a mafia, a successful, prosperous European country," he said.
He later joined several thousand government supporters who converged near the parliament building in the capital Sofia.
Petkov, a Harvard-educated businessman, formed a four-party coalition government in December.
He has pushed for a resolution to a bilateral ethno-cultural dispute that has blocked North Macedonia and Albania's bids to join the EU. Bulgaria is a member of the EU and NATO.
Bulgarian President Rumen Radev will hold consultations with parliamentary parties that can try to form a new majority government.
If that fails, he could install a caretaker cabinet before calling a parliamentary election, in what would be the country's fourth such vote in little more than a year.
Bulgaria has blocked neighboring North Macedonia's bid to join the EU, and with it indirectly, Albania's as well.
The Bulgarian government has insisted North Macedonia formally recognizes that its language has Bulgarian roots, acknowledges in its constitution a Bulgarian minority, and quashes "hate speech" against Bulgaria.
North Macedonia has said that its identity and language aren't open for discussion.
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