Bulgarian President Roumen Radev said on May 22 that he would “within the next few days” hand over the second mandate to seek to form a government, which will go to We Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria, whose leaders have struck a deal with GERB-UDF that could put a government with large parliamentary support in place.
Radev was speaking a ceremony at which GERB-UDF’s Maria Gabriel handed back the mandate she accepted a week earlier, before going on to explain the background of the deal with WCC-DB.
As The Sofia Globe reported earlier, that deal – provided it is supported by the parliamentary groups of GERB-UDF and WCC-DB, the two largest formations in the current Parliament – would see the post of Prime Minister rotated between the two coalitions, with the elected government remaining in office for at least 18 months.
Gabriel said that after receiving the first mandate, she had held talks with the parliamentary groups of WCC-DB, the Bulgarian Socialist Party, the Movement for Rights and Freedoms and ITN.
“Our differences with the BSP became clear at a very early stage. By holding talks with the other parties it became clear that we could achieve unifying efforts so that Bulgaria would have a regular government,” Gabriel said.
She said that she saw her talks regarding the first mandate as a time that had brought unity, not division.
Gabriel described the past 48 hours of talks with WCC-DB as a time of “intense negotiations with reason, not emotion, and the only goal, for Bulgaria to have a government”.
She said that after all the conversations held, she believed that “the situation in the country is critical and we need authorities that work so that the citizens have confidence in them”.
It had been agreed to put forward the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister on a rotating basis, with a legislative and governance programme, and very clearly stated responsibilities, Gabriel said.
“The path you are on requires intensive work,” Radev said.
He said that within the next few days he would hand over the second mandate, and urged MPs not to delay the adoption of the Budget and the laws related to the Recovery and Resilience Plan.
Source: Sofia Globe
