Bulgaria: Caretaker Foreign Minister-designate withdraws

The imbroglio over proposed changes to Bulgaria’s interim government deepened on April 19 as caretaker Foreign Minister-designate Daniel Mitov withdrew his candidacy.

Mitov was one of two caretaker minister-designates who candidacies were submitted to President Roumen Radev by caretaker Prime Minister Dimitar Glavchev.

Radev has not decreed the changes and brief talks on April 19 with Glavchev ended inconclusively.

Radev has objected publicly to the nomination of Mitov, an MP for Boiko Borissov’s GERB-UDF coalition and a deputy leader of GERB. The president has not been alone in criticising the nomination of a member of a party political leadership to a post key to the conduct of Bulgaria’s elections abroad.

Mitov, announcing his withdrawal, said that by refusing to issue a decree for his appointment to the post, Radev had failed the test of his geopolitical orientation and now the responsibility lies with the president – “the foreign minister is his”.

“I want to thank Glavchev for the trust, Borissov, for his understanding approach to this possible role of mine in the official cabinet. I accepted, not because for me it is an end in itself to be foreign minister – I was foreign minister. I accepted because it is important in this situation to have a foreign policy course that is pro-Atlantic, pro-Nato, pro-European,” Mitov said.

“In this situation, it is clear to me that I should not become a bone of contention or any figure that divides society or prevents institutions from doing their job,” he said.

Reacting to Mitov’s withdrawal, Glavchev said: “I don’t have a Plan B”.

Bulgarian National Television previewed an interview with Glavchev to be shown on Friday night’s weekly Panorama programme, in which Glavchev said that he had “forgotten” that Mitov was a deputy leader of a party.

Earlier on April 19, emerging from his meeting with Radev, Glavchev said that the dialogue was continuing and until Radev signs the decree on the changes to the caretaker government, the incumbents remain in their posts.

(Photo via Mitov’s Facebook page)

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