“We are not going to take part in this sitting which is the epitome of backroom dealings in Bulgaria,” said Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) leader Kornelyia Ninova, after which the BSP MPs walked out of the parliamentary sitting which was debating amendments to the criminal procedure code. This gesture comes in response to the recordings disclosed at a press conference earlier in the day by We Continue the Change/Democratic Bulgaria MP Radostin Vasilev, who stated he was leaving the coalition.

• Radostin Vasilev shows remarks from alleged political haggling over the formation of a cabinet

“It’s an absolute international scandal. What do you think Mrs. Ursula von der Leyen, the members of the G7, the biggest and most powerful forces in the world make of the fact that the coalition that has been mandated to form a future government of Bulgaria publicly says they have exerted pressure for the formation of a government?” Ninova said in a comment on the leaked recordings. Citing the words by We Continue the Change co-chair Assen Vassilev about installing “our guys” as heads of services and that this was coordinated with “the embassies”, Kornelyia Ninova stated that they mean giving up our national sovereignty and handing the most important posts in the country over to foreign interests.