Bulgarian President Radev hands mandate to Mitov to try to form Cabinet
At a formal ceremony at the Presidency in Sofia on April 20, President Roumen Radev handed Daniel Mitov a mandate to seek to form a government.
Mitov, a former foreign minister, was nominated as Prime Minister-designate by GERB, the party that won the largest share of the vote in the April 4 parliamentary elections.
Radev, in brief remarks after handing the mandate, said that he expected a Cabinet line-up that would “govern the country effectively and lead it out of the crisis.”
Earlier in the day, acting Prime Minister and GERB leader Boiko Borissov presented the line-up of Mitov’s Cabinet, featuring 11 ministers from the outgoing government.
The list includes the incumbent ministers of health, interior, finance, justice, foreign affairs, transport and sport. Also returning are two other former ministers from previous Borissov administrations – former Economy and Energy Minister Delyan Dobrev and former Environment Minister Ivelina Vassileva.
The proposed cabinet is:
Prime Minister: Daniel Mitov
Deputy Prime Minister, in charge of EU funds: Tomislav Donchev
Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister: Roumen Hristov
Foreign Minister: Ekaterina Zaharieva
Finance: Kiril Ananiev
Interior: Hristo Terziyski
Justice: Dessislava Ahladova
Health: Kostadin Angelov
Energy: Delyan Dobrev
Economy: Zhecho Stankov
Labour and Social Policy: Denitsa Sacheva
Transport: Rossen Zhelyazkov
Regional Development: Alexander Ivanov
Agriculture: Dessislava Taneva
Environment: Ivelina Vassileva
Education: Krassimir Vulchev
Tourism: Lyuben Dilov
Culture: Kalin Velyov
Sport: Krassen Kralev
In the 45th National Assembly, Borissov’s GERB has 75 out of 240 seats. The other five parties and coalitions in Parliament have said that they would not support a new GERB government.
During his presentation of the proposed GERB Cabinet line-up, Borissov called on Mitov to hold the talks with other political parties in Parliament as quickly as possible.
“Take the mandate, we have a duty to talk it out … On Thursday [April 22], we will announce whether we have achieved something or not,” he said during a Facebook livestream.
After the mandate-handing ceremony, Mitov told reporters that GERB extend invitations for talks to centre-right Democratic Bulgaria and cable television presenter Slavi Trifonov’s ITN.
GERB could opt not to pursue an investiture vote in Parliament for its proposed Cabinet if it does not have the support of other parties, returning the exploratory mandate, acting Deputy Prime Minister Tomislav Donchev said on April 19 after the consultations on government formation hosted by Radev.
In that case, Bulgarian constitutional procedures require Radev to hand a mandate to the second-largest party in Parliament, which would be Trifonov’s ITN.
(Radev, right, hands Mitov the formal exploratory mandate to form a Cabinet on April 20. Screengrab from Bulgarian National Television)
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