site.btaUPDATED President Radev to Begin Consultations with Political Forces on Tuesday

"I will begin consultations with the parties on Tuesday," President Rumen Radev told journalists in Paris. He arrived in the French capital for the reopening of the restored Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris at the invitation of President Emmanuel Macron.

He said it is important for Parliament to work, because if there is no regular government, it also means failure in the work of this legislature, and it has very serious tasks ahead of it. Among the most urgent is the adoption of the state budget for next year.

“I call on MPs to pass it by the end of the year, because the local authorities and the citizens expect it,” Radev said.

Radev congratulated the National Assembly on the election of leader. In his words, the expectation for the MPs is to make up for the lost time and start with the procedure for adoption of the state budget. 

“Nataliya Kiselova is a prominent expert, a constitutionalist, with experience in the interaction between state institutions and I expect her to bring calm and efficiency to the work of the Bulgarian parliament,” Radev said in response to a question about the possibility of Kiselova to become a caretaker prime minister. “Let's not fall into speculation about a future caretaker government now, consultations are ahead of us, which will show whether there is potential for forming a regular cabinet,” the head of state said. “Only then options for a caretaker government can be discussed. I cannot say at the moment whether there is potential for such a government, you see how difficult the election of chair of the Bulgarian parliament was,” he noted. “Obviously, we are waiting for consultations, intensive dialogue, I hope, between the parties, negotiations, so from then on it will become clear whether there will be a regular government or not,” Radev stressed.

Asked if he sees options for a regular government, he said that there are many options. 

He said that at the meeting with Nataliya Kiselova right after she was elected chair of Parliament, the two discussed how the dialogue between the parties inside the National Assembly could be improved, as well as what the schedule for the work of the MPs would be, which also depends on when the consultations would begin. The challenges facing the Bulgarian political system were also at issue.

Of the idea to suspend the election of Prosecutor General, Radev said that this was not on the agenda at the moment. The priority is the adoption of the state budget.