site.btaMedia Review: August 20

Tuesday’s media are dominated by reactions to President Rumen Radev’s refusal on Monday to approve the line-up of the next caretaker government, proposed by caretaker PM-designate Goritsa Grancharova-Kozhareva. The reason was that current caretaker Interior Minister Kalin Stoyanov was in the composition of the draft cabinet.

The search for a way out of the political crisis continues after President Rumen Radev's refusal to sign a decree appointing a new Council of Ministers, Nova TV reports. It has come to this because of the presence of Kalin Stoyanov in Goritsa Kozhareva's list of ministers. The head of State gave her an ultimatum until 3 pm on Monday to replace him with another, but she refused. The main question now is whether a constitutional crisis is looming. The procedure for choosing a caretaker prime minister must be restarted, but the President's first attempt showed that most of the names he has to choose from are unwilling to participate.

The date for the early parliamentary elections, which according to the Constitution must be held within two months after the appointment of a caretaker prime minister, remains unclear.

Constitutional experts Dr. Orlin Kolev and Assoc. Prof. Natalia Kiselova appeared on the morning show of Nova to shed light on the legal conundrum following Radev's refusal to approve the line-up of the next caretaker cabinet. To clarify the issue, the two expressed opposing opinions.

According to Kiselova, the word "proposal", as far as procedures involving the head of State are concerned, implies that the final decision is his. This means that also in the case of the caretaker government, the President has the final say. In her words, Radev's refusal to sign a decree appointing Kozhareva's caretaker government is not unconstitutional.

Her colleague Dr. Orlin Kolev is of a different opinion. According to him, "the President cannot impose his will on the selection and composition of the future caretaker cabinet". The constitutionalist described as a "big blunder" the fact that the head of State links the holding of parliamentary elections with the formation of a caretaker cabinet.

Slavi Vassilev, a political analyst, believes that Radev has returned the ball to the National Assembly because "the MPs made this mess". "The whole country is in the merry-go-round of constitutional changes, we are still learning as we go. The President bears the responsibility for this cabinet. There are real arguments that show Kalin Stoyanov's ties with (MRF co-chairman) Peevski. The Interior Minister can influence the results of a party. The Minister has become much more political since he has been in the caretaker cabinet. Radev takes a stance on Peevski's appetites to command behind the scenes. There is a huge reluctance in the “house book” (the list of eligible) candidates to take up the post of caretaker prime minister lest their political careers be compromised," he said.

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Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB) issued a public invitation to the Chair of the National Assembly and the parties, excluding the parliamentary group of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF), to meet at noon on Tuesday. The aim is to discuss the completion of the house book from which Rumen Radev can choose a caretaker prime minister. 

Vazrazhdane, BSP and There is Such a People (TISP) have made sharp criticisms. According to them, there should be talks, but not on the initiative of CC-DB. The socialists proposed a meeting of Parliament’s presiding body, while GERB did not respond.

bTV adds that if a national ombudsman and a deputy are urgently elected, they could be added to the house book.

MPs from MRF, close to party honorary chairman Ahmed Dogan, also want to add new names to the house book. However, so far there has been no confirmation whether anyone has accepted CC-DB's invitation.

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GERB leader Boyko Borissov said that the country cannot be hostage to its interior minister, no matter who he is. Borissov described the behaviour of Kalin Stoyanov on Monday with his raised hand in front of the presidential institution as "unacceptable". According to the GERB leader, caretaker Prime Minister Dimitar Glavchev and President Rumen Radev should talk about the quick replacement of the Interior Minister and the holding of early elections as soon as possible.

Borissov also said that his party would not participate in initiatives to elect an ombudsman or a deputy chairman of the Court of Auditors. In his words, Dimitar Glavchev's government can continue to work, but with a new Interior Minister.

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Former caretaker interior minister Ivan Demerdzhiev told bTV that he found a "definite link" between the current minister Kalin Stoyanov and MRF co-chairman Delyan Peevski. Because of the suspected links between the two, President Rumen Radev refused to sign the decree for the caretaker cabinet of Goritsa Grancharova-Kozhareva, as Stoyanov was present in it.

"The (election) results achieved by Peevski in Kardzhali and Blagoevgrad show a rise in votes for MRF. Against the backdrop of the extremely low voter turnout, this is inexplicable. There is a distortion of the result. Stoyanov did not bring any peace of mind in the Interior Ministry by replacing regional directors and a number of other leaders. He broke up teams that had shown they could deal with vote-buying. His dependencies became very clear in this caretaker cabinet," Demerdzhiev added.

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Former interior minister and former ambassador to Israel Rumyana Bachvarova said on bTV that someone needs to explain to the Interior Minister that in the situation he has created, it makes no sense for him to resist - as he said on Monday that he would fight to the end - because there is no way for the next caretaker government, approved by the President, to pass if Stoyanov is in it. If that happens, it would mean that President Radev has blocked Grancharova-Kozhareva’s draft cabinet in vain.

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Trud runs an interview with Dr. Lyubomir Kanov, author and psychiatrist

According to him, the real battle is between Peevski and Radev, and Interior Minister Kalin Stoyanov is just in its focus. “It is clear that the stakes in this battle are very high and that it is extremely important for Peevski himself to retain control of the Interior Ministry. Why he needs it we can only guess, but my personal reading is that through this minister and with his help at least a few tens of thousands of MRF voters have made him the second political force with the low turnout and injection of additional votes from minorities who are known to be very easily bought.

Kanov does not believe President Radev and CC-DB have the same reasons to want Stoyanov out of the political stage. “There can be different motivations for the same political action. The President's motivation is to defeat Peevski, who has acted by exposing his aides, calling him "Mr Cash", pointing to BSP figures who, in the past, had influence in his election as president and are currently his treasurers. CC-DB’s motives are quite different, probably related to the loss of thousands of votes that went to MRF in the last elections in polling stations where minorities vote and are known to abruptly change the results on voting day. That is where anomalies occur, which in this case were in favour of MRF. These anomalies have brought Peevski's self-confidence soaring since the elections, and he has rampaged through the National Assembly as a keynote speaker and, in my view, indulged in unforgivable language.”

“As long as there is Radev, there will be chaotic confrontations and chaos in the voter's heads, which in my estimation is gradually being replaced by apathy and indifference to what is going on in our political process,” Kanov said.  

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The national radio runs an interview with Vasil Tonchev, director of the sociological agency "Sova Harris"

According to him, the current situation is “organized chaos” where the parties are of two extremely opposite opinions.

“Parliament will decide whether anything meaningful can be done. Very interesting and key will be the role of GERB or what Boyko Borissov will decide. GERB's decision may determine how Parliament will act to move towards a way out of the political crisis… There is a way out and Parliament has to find it. Maybe through a temporary majority,” the sociologist said.

He expressed the opinion that the parties have no compass, no long-term strategy, and that they are mired in topical squabble, putting campaigning first.

In the long run, the ethnic element in MRF will prevail. In the short term, Peevski has very strong levers to hold his position, Tonchev said. He predicts a split and probably a very low result for both MRF lists, which in his words will take MRF out of big politics for a period of time.

For now, only the President emerges as a "saviour". If he waits until his term is over, he will lose a lot and squander a huge part of his chances, the sociologist pointed out. He expects an even greater withdrawal of the people from the elections and an even lower legitimacy of next Parliament.

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Dnevnik presents the result of a recent Alpha Research poll asking respondents what would happen if Bulgaria were to leave the European Union and Western values.

From a certain point on, anti-liberal propaganda has become counterproductive for its own purposes. Its extreme values in the first months since Russia's invasion of Ukraine have managed to radicalize the positions of some circles, but also to encourage others to think in the hitherto unrealistic hypothesis - what would happen if Bulgaria fell into isolation from the EU and the Western world. For the vast majority of Bulgarian citizens such a scenario is completely unacceptable.

This is one of the conclusions of a sociological study on Russian propaganda in Bulgaria for 2024, conducted by the Alpha Research Agency on behalf of the Human and Social Studies Foundation – Sofia.

Bulgarians are aware of the possible damage of their country being outside the EU and this is one of the most serious barriers against the influence of anti-European suggestions and deterring broader public impulses to rethink our geopolitical choices, the survey found.