The leadership of the Sofia chapter of the right-wing opposition Democrats for Strong Bulgaria (DSB) urged its supporters to join the protests planned for January 14 in front of the Parliament building. DSB MP Atanas Atanassov said Sunday that a campaign is being launched to topple the cabinet. The campaign is called "Ser - Go Home" which is a pun of the nickname of Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev, Sergo. Atanassov said that options will be sought to unite the opposition forces at parliamentary level and to start talks for joint actions.

At a joint meeting Sunday of Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP, of the ruling three-party coalition) top officials, ministers and MEPs, National Assembly Chairman Georgi Pirinski said that "the charge of the messages for the upcoming protest rallies on January 14 should not be underestimated". Pirinski said the protests have been fed by accumulated negative energy against Parliament which has been coming via diverse directions for some time now. According to him, this negative energy has been sharpened to a maximum aggressive extent by postings on Internet sites and forums and word-of-mouth calls among young people urging everybody to come in front of the Parliament building on January 14.

Stanishev said at the meeting that he had ordered a series of contacts with the various groups planning protests in mid-January and expects that the rallies will observe the law, no matter the cause for which they are called.

Pirinski said all groups who have declared their intention to hold rallies have applied for the relevant permits with the Sofia City Council so that they can be contacted and urged to take part in a responsible dialog.

Stanishev said the opposition has become rather fierce in the past few years. In his view, the GERB party - seen as the biggest rival for power of the ruling coalition - has not yet come up with an anti-crisis policy or said what it wants to do while at the same time the formation has been calling for early elections. According to Stanishev, GERB's only motivation is coming to power.

The Prime Minister said that without political stability, any economic or social plan will be impossible to implement. Without stable governance, it is impossible to respond adequately to negative external impacts, no matter whether economic one or emergency situations such as the one caused by the halted natural gas supplies at the moment, Stanishev said.

The Prime Minister reported at the meeting tangible progress in the past seven months in the utilization of European funds, as well as in the area of justice and home affairs - the cause of much criticism from Brussels.

Stanishev said 2009 will be marked by two things: the financial crisis and the upcoming elections for Parliament and MEPs.

Source: BTA