site.btaUPDATED President to Consult Parliamentary Parties Thursday on Caretaker Cabinet Appointment

Bulgarian President Rumen Radev has invited the parliamentary groups to consultations at 5 p.m. on Thursday in connection with the appointment of a caretaker cabinet, the head of State told journalists here on Wednesday.

After three parliamentary groups (GERB-UDF, Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria and There Is Such a People) failed in their attempts to form a parliament-elected cabinet, the President now has to appoint a caretaker prime minister and schedule elections within two months.

Asked if a nominee for caretaker prime minister must attend the consultations, Radev said the Constitution admits of both options - with or without a nominee in attendance.

"We are all going through the aftershocks of the ill-advised revisions of the Constitution, which have an even more destructive impact than the process of their adoption. The fact that these changes are already boomeranging back on their creators is not the biggest problem," Radev said. The problem is they are eroding the foundations of parliamentarism and of key institutions such as the National Assembly, the Bulgarian National Bank, the Bulgarian National Audit Office (BNAO) and the Ombudsman, he said.

The range of senior officials among whom the head of State can pick a caretaker prime minister are: the National Assembly chair, the central bank governor and vice governors, the BNAO president and vice presidents, and the national ombudsman and deputy ombudsman.

"It should be clear that professionalism can no longer be the guiding principle in appointing the leaders of these important institutions. Each party will now be looking for a person convenient and loyal to it, who will be viewed as a possible future caretaker prime minister," Radev said.

As to the possible nominees, Radev said that he had been talking with them and that some of them were abroad. "We have to take every option very seriously because there are very few of them left."

Asked about the timing of the snap parliamentary elections, Radev said he would set a date as soon as he appointed a caretaker government.