site.btaPresident, PM Review Caretaker Cabinet's Performance

110 POLITICS - PRESIDENT - CARETAKER PM - CABINET - PERFORMANCE

President, PM
Review Caretaker Cabinet's
Performance


Sofia, November 10 (BTA) - President Rosen Plevneliev and
caretaker Prime Minister Georgi Bliznashki reviewed the
cabinet's performance and summed up its work in the presence of
the caretaker ministers on Monday.

Plevneliev praised the caretaker cabinet for accomplishing its
number one task - to calm down the nation and organize a
successful, legitimate transition to a new parliament and
government. Plevneliev noted the urgent measures taken by the
government to stabilize key public systems: public finance,
energy, health care, winning back the confidence of the EU
institutions in Bulgaria, cutting the risk of loss of funding
from the EU structural instruments for 2007-2013 and
accelerating work for the 2014-2020 programming period.

The President also said that Bulgaria's Partnership Agreement
with the European Commission (EC) for the 2014-2020 period was
finalized and took effect during the caretaker cabinet's term.
The cabinet regained the Commission's confidence and resumed
dialogue with it. Plevneliev also noted the action plan drawn up
with the EC to resume payments under Operational Programmes
Environment and Regional Development, as a result of which
payments are expected to be resumed in the coming days.

Bliznashki said the government took all the necessary steps to
contain the crises in various sectors. "In these difficult days
for all of us, despite constant attempts to involve the
caretaker cabinet in the election campaign and in several
flagrantly ridiculous scenarios, I can firmly state that we
delivered on our commitments to the President and the nation,"
said the Prime Minister. The legacy of problems including the
state of public finance and the consequences of flooding around
Bulgaria meant that the cabinet could not stick only to
organizing fair and democratic elections.

Answering a question, Plevneliev said: "The presidential
elections are far away. I have absolutely no plans in this
respect because if I had, it would be unfair to the Bulgarians."
He said that what he realized in politics was that political
plans did not usually materialize the way they were conceived.
"Being a convinced democrat and pro-European, I believe that the
Bulgarians have two more years to make the right decision about
who will be of most use to the nation," said Plevneliev. Much
effort in the right direction is what Bulgaria needs most now,
he said. "This is what you can expect from me, this is what we
expect from the new Prime Minister, whom I congratulate on the
historic success of becoming the first Bulgarian prime minister
democratically elected for a second term."
VI/DD