site.btaUPDATED President Gives Second Government-forming Mandate to CC-DB, They Return It Unfulfilled

President Rumen Radev Monday presented the second exploratory mandate for forming a government to representatives of Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB), who returned it unfulfilled immediately. They arrived for the meeting with a delay of nearly ten minutes.

CC-DB Floor Leader Nikolay Denkov thanked the President for giving CC-DB the opportunity to check whether they can form a stable majority in the 50th National Assembly. The answer after the talks held is that this cannot happen, Denkov added. "We will not change our approach, we will maintain those priorities that we have always put at the forefront - to create as a State a friendly environment for business and investors, to increase incomes, to reduce inequality, to have the means to provide better education and healthcare," said Denkov.

All these issues that people are concerned about will be at the centre, he went on to say. Denkov expressed regret that proved impossible in the 50th National Assembly. "We expect to get stronger public support so that at the next opportunity we can raise these issues again and they will be at the centre of the discussions in Parliament," he explained. Denkov drew attention to the fact that the fight against corruption is not an end in itself, but the main means to achieve success in this direction. 

Emerging from the meeting with Radev, CC-DB co-leader Kiril Petkov said that they confirmed before the head of State that they do not see counter-corruption as an end in itself. Until the problem with corruption is solved, Bulgaria will remain trapped in a vicious circle, Petkov added.

Last week, CC-DB presented a declaration to the President proposing a three-month delay of the government-forming procedure in order to deal with the political crisis through counter-corruption measures, but none of the other parliamentary forces supported the plan. Therefore, CC-DB said they will return the mandate unfulfilled. The decision was announced by CC-DB Deputy Floor Leader Bozhidar Bozhanov in a media statement on July 18.

CC-DB emerged from the elections as the third-largest force, but a subsequent rift in the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) caused the MRF parliamentary group to shrink, leaving CC-DB as number two in the National Assembly behind election winners GERB-UDF. Under the Constitution, the President is to hand the second cabinet-forming mandate to the second biggest parliamentary group. If that mandate is returned unfulfilled, the President should task another parliamentary group of his choosing to name a Prime Minister-designate.