Pressure on Bulgaria President Mounts

Bulgaria's Prime Minister Boyko Borisov has said that the impeachment of President Georgi Parvanov would not be good for the country.

Nevertheless his ruling party coalition partners continue to threaten the president's impeachment.

Borisov said that he was ready to convene consultations to resolve the conflict between several right wing parties that are part of his governing coaltion and Parvanov, after two parties called for the president's impeachment.

Borisov said a possible impeachment would have a negative impact on Bulgaria's position within Europe.

Still, Borisov said that he will ask the Iraqi government to hand over all relevant information on his country's involvement in the Oil for Food Programme.

Earlier this week Borisov indicated that he supported the calls from the far-right Ataka party and the right-of-centre Democrats for a Strong Bulgaria to impeach the president if evidence shows that Parvanov, in his capacity of one-time leader of the Bulgarian Socialist Party, was involved in illegal activities supporting former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein under the UN Oil for Food Programme in the late 1990s.

At the same time, the co-chair of the ruling party's parliamentary group, Iskra Fidosova, stated that after consulting with its smaller governing parties, Parvanov may be ordered to appear in front of Parliament as early as next week. The far-right Ataka party accuse Parvanov of systematically disregarding his official duties, as stipulated by the constitution, and say he has not reported to parliament on his work.

"Under the constitution the President has duties in the National Assembly - in the form of a report or a plenary hearing to inform the National Assembly on major issues in the circle of his powers,” Fidosova said, according to the novinite.com news agency.

At the same time these parties have submitted a demand to parliament asking that Parvanov recall the Bulgarian ambassadors to Turkey and the US, after the ruling coalition accused the ambassadors of violating procedures linked to the voting by Bulgarians in their respective countries in the July parliamentary elections.

Last week the Bulgarian government approved the recall of the ambassadors, but Parvanov, whose signature is needed in order to recall the ambassadors, said he is not convinced that they are guilty and accused the government of excluding him from the procedure for investigating their alleged violations.