Bulgarian Cabinet again postpones meeting
The regular weekly meeting of the Bulgarian Cabinet has been postponed by one day to March 1, the Government’s media service said in a statement on February 28.
This is the second time this week that the Cabinet meeting has been postponed. The Government usually holds its weekly meeting on Wednesdays, but this week’s session was postponed by a day because of the health problems of acting prime minister Boiko Borissov, who was admitted to hospital in Sofia on February 26 with high blood pressure.
This Cabinet meeting is seen as being likely to be the last scheduled meeting pending the appointment of a caretaker cabinet after the resignation of Borissov’s government in response to nationwide protests.
The timing of the Cabinet meeting on March 1, however, raised the question of whether the ministers would be able to attend Question Time in Parliament, traditionally held each Friday. Last week’s Question Time had to be postponed because of lack of quorum in Parliament, with opposition parties accusing the acting Government of trying to escape scrutiny.
On February 26, local media quoted Borissov as saying that he had been diagnosed with ischemic heart disease two years ago and had been advised to avoid going to the sauna and to limit his sports activities.
Despite initial reports that a meeting with Bulgarian Orthodox Church’s newly-enthroned Patriarch Neofit, scheduled for February 27, would be postponed, the two met in the hospital where Borissov remains under medical observation.
Borissov’s health problems have compounded an already dramatic situation in Bulgaria’s political and social crisis as protests against high electricity prices continue. He was absent from the February 26 special meeting of the Consultative Council on National Security called to discuss the risks to the country because of the crisis.
(Acting Prime Minister Boiko Borissov, right, with Bulgarian Orthodox Church Patriarch Neofit. Photo: government.bg)