President holds talks for new caretaker prime minister

published on 8/21/24 1:11 PM

Rumen Radev

Photo: BTA

President Rumen Radev is holding a series of meetings with potential caretaker prime ministers. Meanwhile, acting caretaker Prime Minister Dimitar Glavchev has announced that he is ready to take up the post. After a meeting with the president, he said that he did not yet have a mandate, so he could not answer journalists whether he would leave Kalin Stoyanov as interior minister. Stoyanov himself said he would stay on because he saw that there were attempts to control the system.

Early elections postponed, the president does not accept "Kozhareva" draft cabinet

The crisis over the appointment of a caretaker prime minister came after the president asked Prime Minister-designate Goritsa Grancharova-Kozhareva to remove Interior Minister Kalin Stoyanov from her list of ministers, but she refused.

The president also met today with Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) governor Dimitar Radev, who again refused to serve as caretaker prime minister. He reiterated his previous stance that the BNB should not interfere in the political process.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Dimitar Glavchev sacked without explanation five deputy ministers who had been nominated for ministerial posts in the Grancharova-Kozhareva cabinet.

One of the BNB's deputy governors, Radoslav Milenkov, also ruled out accepting the post. "I am Bulgaria's representative on the supervisory board of the European Central Bank, and for me in particular, it is absolutely out of the question to even comment on a possible option to take over as prime minister," he said.

After his meeting with President Rumen Radev, Toshko Todorov, deputy head of the National Audit Office, said that although he was an expert in the field of auditing, he did not feel prepared for the role of prime minister.

It should be noted that on Monday, President Radev did not sign the decree appointing the caretaker government proposed by Goritsa Grancharova-Kozhareva. After seeing the proposed list of ministers, the president insisted that Kozhareva replace her proposed caretaker Interior Minister, Kalin Stoyanov, who currently holds the post, citing concerns that Stoyanov would not ensure fair elections. Kozhareva did not comply with this demand.

Under the latest constitutional amendments, the president has a short list from which to choose a caretaker prime minister - the speaker of the National Assembly, the governor or sub-governor of the Bulgarian National Bank, the president or deputy president of the National Audit Office and the ombudsman or his deputy. Two of these posts - the Ombudsman and the Deputy Ombudsman - are vacant.

The Speaker of Parliament, Raya Nazaryan, has already refused to accept the position of Prime Minister. So far, only the current caretaker prime minister, Dimitar Glavchev, and the other BNB deputy governor, Petar Chobanov, have agreed to take up the premier's post. Chobanov is a financier, having served as finance minister in Plamen Oresharski's cabinet and as an MRF MP.

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President holds talks for new caretaker prime minister

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