PM Designate Denkov Presents Government Line-up to President

Nikolay Denkov, the prime minister designate of Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB), Monday presented to President Rumen Radev a government line-up, as mandated by the head of State on May 29. The government will have to be voted by a majority in Parliament to take office.

The government was put together after CC-DB, which is the second largest group in Parliament, reached an agreement with the largest party, GERB-UDF. Denkov will rotate as prime minister and deputy prime minister over a nine-month period with Mariya Gabriel of GERB-UDF.

CC-DB and GERB-UDF have 132 MPs between them in the 240-seat legislature, which should give them enough votes to back the Denkov-Gabriel government.

The President said that he would sign a decree to send the proposed government lineup to Parliament.

Parliament leader Rosen Zhelyazkov said that if the President issues the decree later on Monday, he will convoke Parliament on Tuesday.

Here is the proposed cabinet line-up:

Prime Minister: Nikolay Denkov
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs: Mariya Gabriel
Deputy Prime Minister for EU Funds and Minister of Finance: Assen Vassilev
Minister of Interior: Kalin Stoyanov
Minister of Defence: Todor Tagarev
Minister of Environment and Water: Julian Popov
Minister of Energy: Rumen Radev
Minister of Regional Development and Public Works: Andrey Tsekov
Minister of Agriculture and Food: Kiril Vatev
Minister of Economy and Industry: Bogdan Bogdanov
Minister of Innovation and Growth: Milena Stoycheva
Minister of Labour and Social Policy: Ivanka Shalapatova
Minister of Justice: Atanas Slavov
Minister of Health: Hristo Hinkov
Minister of Education and Science: Galin Tsokov
Minister of Tourism: Zaritsa Dimkova
Minister of Transport and Communications: Georgi Gvozdeykov
Minister of Electronic Governance: Alexander Yolovski
Minister of Culture: Krastyu Krastev
Minister of Youth and Sports: Dimitar Iliev

Short biographies of the proposed members of CC-DB-GERB-UDF's cabinet can be found here.

As they unveiled their cabinet proposal, CC-DB and GERB-UDF said it would have a time horizon of 18 months during which it will address some emergencies, including revising the legislation to pave the way for reforming the judiciary and carry through other reforms set out in this country’s Recovery and Resilience Plan, and take measures that will lead to accession to the eurozone and the Schengen area. The government will also seek to rally support for constitutional changes for a more profound judicial reform.

Returning the fulfilled cabinet-forming mandate to the President, Denkov said that everyone needs the situation to calm down so that the people would know that the government, the National Assembly, and the presidential institution are working together for the country’s development to the benefit of people and businesses. “What we expect is for you to issue a decree, [the proposed government line-up] to be voted in the National Assembly, if it gets the necessary majority, and then for us to make a smooth transition of power, as required by the Constitution,” Denkov told the head of State.

“As soon as possible, I will issue a decree to submit your proposal to the National Assembly, where it will be voted on by the MP,” said President Radev.

Bulgaria needs institutions and politicians who are actually led by the Bulgarian people, who work for security, justice and against corruption, as expected by all respectable Bulgarian citizens. To strengthen the sovereignty of the country and work to deepen our European integration, the head of State stressed.

On May 29, President Radev handed the second exploratory mandate for forming a government to the CC-DB to Denkov, while calling on CC-DB to reconsider the expediency of this mandate, which, according to him, has already been discredited. A few days later in Ankara, where he attended the inauguration ceremony of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Radev expressed hope that the next regular government would follow the course set by the caretaker cabinet.

/DT/