site.btaReactions to Second Government-Forming Mandate, to Be Handed Over after July 14

President Rumen Radev told reporters in Burgas, on the Black Sea, early Friday that he will hand over the second exploratory mandate for the formation of a regular government in the upcoming week. Expected to receive the mandate is the prime minister-designate of Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB) as the second biggest parliamentary group at the time.

Under the Constitution, the head of State is to hand the second cabinet-forming mandate to the second biggest parliamentary group, which until Thursday was the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF). The expulsion of 17 MPs, however, resulted in the MRF becoming fourth in size in the 50th National Assembly. The first cabinet-forming mandate failed, when on July 3 Parliament denied approval to GERB-UDF's prime minister-designate Rosen Zhelyazkov.

Radev called on the MPs to reflect on "the dynamics of the political processes and to make efforts to bring common sense back to the National Assembly." He pointed out that Parliament will be able to elect a sustainable majority only if the parties are able to identify and unite around national interests, as otherwise, the political crisis will worsen.

Later Friday, Zhecho Stankov MP of GERB-UDF told reporters that GERB will back their leader Boyko Borissov, who said that his party will not support a government proposed under the second or third exploratory mandates. When another GERB-UDF MP, Delyan Dobrev, was asked whether would hold talks with CC-DB, he said: "Personally, I would not talk with them, but there is a negotiation team that you should ask."

Independent MP Krasimira Katincharova, one of the six MPs who broke away from the Velichie Parliamentary Group earlier July, which resulted in the parliamentary group ceasing to exist, said: "We [the breakaway MPs] won’t negotiate on second and third government forming mandate," seemingly echoing GERB-UDF's sentiment.

Asked whether the MRF would support a government proposed by CC-DB under the second exploratory mandate, MRF Co-Chair Dzhevdet Chakarov told reporters that his party would show reason and readiness for dialogue. "Let us see what programme they [CC-DB] would set as goals. We are led by the position that there is a political crisis and need to stabilize the political situation," he added.

Chakarov also commented on him and 16 other MPs of the MRF getting expelled from the parliamentary group on Thursday. One cannot talk about a rift at all, he said, adding: "We have been observing the principles and goals ever since the MRF's establishment."