Bulgaria: President gives Glavchev August 26 date to propose caretaker government
Bulgarian head of state President Roumen Radev has given caretaker Prime Minister-designate Dimitar Glavchev an August 26 date to propose the line-up of an interim government, so that Radev may decree October 27 as the date for Bulgaria’s next early parliamentary elections.
Meeting Glavchev on August 22 for the handover of the mandate to propose an interim government, Radev said that he wanted that government to take the oath in Parliament on August 27 so that the date for early parliamentary elections would be October 27.
Bulgaria’s constitution provides that, in the event of the National Assembly failing to elect a government, the head of state issues decrees appointing a caretaker government and setting a date two months hence for early parliamentary elections.
Radev told Glavchev – already caretaker Prime Minister since April – to choose carefully the names of those Glavchev would nominate for the interim government.
On August 19, Radev refused to decree the caretaker government presented by then-PM-designate Goritsa Grancharova-Kozhareva because the proposal included current caretaker Interior Minister Kalin Stoyanov retaining that proposal.
Like the We Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria coalition and the Vuzrazhdane party, Radev has no confidence in Stoyanov’s ability to play the appropriate role in ensuring the integrity of forthcoming early parliamentary elections.
Boiko Borissov’s GERB-UDF also has withdrawn its long-standing confidence in Stoyanov, though he retains the backing of Movement for Rights and Freedoms co-leader Delyan Peevski.
At the August 22 ceremony, Radev told Glavchev: “I am handing you a mandate to form a new caretaker government.
“This responsibility has returned to you again after the failed attempt of Goritsa Grancharova-Kozhareva, after the refusal of the other possible candidates and because of the obstacles to the leadership of the Bulgarian National Bank to be nominated as Prime Minister,” Radev said.
“I believe that it is not right that the crisis in one institution should be extinguished by starting a fire in another institution that is important for financial and economic stability at a difficult moment for our country,” he said.
Radev told Glavchev that in order for the mandate to succeed, “you should do a thorough analysis of the ups and downs that have taken place to get here.
“During your first term, suspicions were raised about dependencies on certain political figures. Today you get the real opportunity to refute this,” Radev said.
Glavchev said that his main task was to eliminate the political tension, and undertook to present his proposed line-up on August 26.
“I will try to do better everything we have done so far,” Glavchev said.
“One can always do better. I have nothing to be ashamed of for the work of the government, of which I am still caretaker Prime Minister,” he said.
“No one disputed that we fulfilled our main task well – to organise fair, free and transparent elections.
“At the same time, we preserved Bulgaria’s long-established path connected with Europe. A path that has been started by many governments back.
“I promised exactly that – to organise the elections properly, to preserve the European path and to solve the problems of the Bulgarian citizens. This is the most important thing for any government, whether ex officio or regular,” Glavchev said.
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