Union of Democratic Forces (UDF) leader Plamen Youroukov has started altering his public image, based on his confidence that he would be in a ruling coalition with Boiko Borissov's party Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (GERB) in 2009, mediapool.bg reported on February 14 2008.

The council of the ruling coalition has announced certain policies regarding the country's development until 2013, which might not be acceptable to a coalition between UDF and GERB after the next polls, when it comes to power a year and a half from now, Yuroukov said, commenting on the last summit of the three-way ruling coalition, held on February 9-10 2008.

Despite his confident demeanour, Yuroukov had not received a mandate from the UDF's national council to launch negotiations with GERB, mediapool.bg said. He was yet to firmly define the political identity of GERB, avoiding an an answer by saying that “talking of right and left is becoming ridiculous.”

UDF's leader criticised the ruling coalition for launching a number of initiatives that had no clear rationale behind them. “There are no clear motives for setting up the energy holding, nothing specific was said on the reforms in education and healthcare,” he said.

The ruling coalition's leaders agreed the creation of a Bulgarian energy holding in 2009, the fast-track privatisation of tobacco monopoly Bulgartabac, closing down duty-free shops and building petrol stations at Bulgaria's land borders.

The coalition of Bulgarian Socialist Party, National Movement for Stability and Progress and Movement for Rights and Freedom was repeating the same mistakes made by the previous governments, failing to carry out the bulk of their electoral promises, Youroukov said.l

“The Cabinet could not hold a normal election in Bulgaria's first year in the EU. Not only is it destroying the political system, but by not reforming the public sector, it is trying to destroy the economy as well,” he added.