site.btaUPDATED Prime Minister Denkov Resigns, Says He "Kept His Word"

Bulgarian Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov has tendered his resignation at the National Assembly Registry Department, the Government Information Service said on Tuesday.

At its plenary sitting on Wednesday, due to open at 9 a.m., the National Assembly is to take a vote on "a draft resolution accepting the resignation of the Prime Minister." As evident from Parliament's website, this first item on the legislature's agenda has been moved by the Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB) Parliamentary Group. The news was broken about half an hour before the Government Information Service press release.

"This is not playing political games but keeping one's word, an expression of continuity, political fair play, and respect for citizens," Denkov said in a statement to the media a couple of hours later. "I am now honouring the commitment that we assumed by the joint declaration on June 6, 2023," he added.

The PM was referring to an arrangement made between the two largest groups in the incumbent Parliament, CC-DB and GERB-UDF, according to which Denkov and Mariya Gabriel of GERB-UDF were to rotate as prime minister and deputy prime minister over a nine-month period, starting with Denkov. Subject to this understanding, the two parliamentary coalitions plus the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) voted the Denkov Cabinet into office on June 6, 2023. The rotation was due to take place on March 6, 2024.

"So far we have been implementing every point and every line [of the declaration], even though the dialogue was at times blown up and deadlocked. We are coming to the key, sixth point: setting up a mechanism for advance coordination between the parliamentary groups on the nominations for regulatory authorities elected by Parliament with a view to ensuring that the best selection is made of individuals of high professional and moral standing," the PM went on to say. 

He called on the political forces to keep their word. "In the coming nine months, we must walk the whole path of reforms that we outlined in June," Denkov added, arguing that "it takes political courage" "to wrest regulators out of clan and family relationships so that they regulate social relations rather than be used as bludgeons for raiding businesses, so that it would be clear who raises prices in this country and at whose bidding."

The PM described Tuesday's resignation as "yet another invitation to negotiations" on topics of concern for people.

"I owe Bulgarian citizens an explicit reassurance. The Government will continue to perform its duties and to work, just as so far, for increasing incomes, creating a steady business climate, enhancing national security and asserting Bulgaria's positions in international relations until the elections of the next government," Denkov said further.