Veselin Stoynev's comment:
In Bulgaria, coalition government is not popular at all, so it is avoided to call it a coalition and we have reached the euphemism “assembly“. And the supervisory body of the assembly is apparently even more shameful and that is why it is currently not called a coalition council, but a Joint Management Council (JMC).
In coalitions with the participation of the democratic right-wing formations, there was no such body – from the Reformist Bloc 10 years ago, to the PP and DB in the “Petkov“ and “Denkov“ cabinets. The organless cooling went through parliamentary groups, expert councils or decision-making mechanisms – all of them either did not work or did not happen at all.
That is why the classic coalition council, called the Political Council of the coalition during the rule of the BSP, NMSV and MRF in 2005-2009, was a par excellence politburo with the participation of Sergey Stanishev, Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha and Ahmed Dogan. It made the key management and personnel decisions in the country in an adequate place for Milko Balev, Dobri Djurov and Pencho Kubadinski - the then government residence "Lozenets" in Sofia.
A more refined body
The Joint Management Council of the 3+1 coalition - GERB-BSP-ITN (plus MRF-Dogan as associates) is highly empowered, but far more refined than the coalition council of the triple coalition - precisely so that it is not as much on display as the shameful organ of assembly. Because shame is the traitor of sinfulness, and this is also the beginning of the path of descent from power – through repentance or lynching.
Therefore, first of all, the SSU must be in the shadows. The new coalition partners really liked the public communication from the negotiations between GERB and “Democratic Bulgaria“ of laconic and identical press releases from the two party press centers after each meeting, which were almost exhausted by listing the participants and the topics discussed. If this type of wartime communiqué with almost complete radio silence is adequate for a period of negotiations, then military censorship in peacetime can quickly accumulate more negatives than positives. Because a democratic government cannot be one without transparency, even more so when it comes to the concentration of power in an unconstitutionally established political body.
In addition, the coalition council will not attract, at least at the beginning, attention with party leaders. At its launch, the big absentee is not only Boyko Borisov, but also his two most empowered party representatives, who remained outside the cabinet - Denitsa Sacheva and Raya Nazaryan. The rotating chairman of the SSU for the first three months is Kostadin Angelov.
Everything important - prior approval by the SSU
The council, which will have up to three representatives from each party and two from the MRF-MPS, can also include party leaders, ministers, deputies and any other people. That is, it will turn into a mini political-expert convention, which is vaguely personified, but which will make all important political decisions in advance without contradictions – by consensus, and two of the parties can impose a veto.
This body will be the filter for every legislative and personnel decision – nothing important can pass through the Council of Ministers and parliament if it has not been previously coordinated in the SSU. In other words, all the work of the government and the parliamentary majority is subject to preliminary coordination work with ministers and chairmen of parliamentary committees and is invalid without the SSU's stamp of approval.
A crushed coalition in need of exhaust valves
This is a serious prerequisite for smooth management work with a minimized risk of conflicts between partners, brought to the media, and avoiding blockage by risky votes in the cabinet and parliament. At the same time, the encapsulated center of power in a self-sufficient coalition mechanism will be constantly subjected to public and opposition pressure due to indecent and unwanted parceling of power and distribution of portions and may break through some of the small units in the coalition.
Against the danger of excessive pressure of power, the coalition can provide relief valves in the form of openness and concessions to the opposition and even readiness to replace management wheels. Whether this will be the approach will be evident in the formation of the leaderships of parliamentary committees and especially in the election of regulatory bodies, even when a qualified majority is not required for them.
Behind the SSU - Borisov-Peevski, and Zhelyazkov - an official prime minister?
Among the key moments of the consumption of coalition power is the danger that the shadowy SSU, on the one hand, will be a cover for another invisible supercenter of power (Borisov-Peevski), and on the other, it will delegitimize the prime minister and the government as a third-tier function of power. Whether there is a two-person supercenter of power will become apparent in key economic deals, the election of a new Supreme Judicial Council and regulators. And if the “Zhelyazkov” cabinet becomes a caretaker government of the coalition convention, this will be a fast track for delegitimization of the entire government, because the prime minister and the government are its most visible and publicly accountable component. The only track left for it is the competition track - each of the parties, through its ministers, will accumulate points for itself with care for the people, according to Peevski. This way, the government would somehow be responsible only for the good things, and the bad things would be at the expense of the supervisors from the SSU, who make management and personnel decisions that are unacceptable even for the prime minister and ministers themselves.