site.btaUPDATED President to Announce Friday His Decision on When Second Exploratory Mandate for Government Formation Will Be Handed Over

President Rumen Radev has said that Friday morning he will announce his decision when he will hand over the second exploratory mandate for the formation of a government. He was speaking to reporters in the UK on Thursday, where he is representing Bulgaria at the 4th European Political Community Summit.

"I will not delay the process in any way. I will also take into account the parties' efforts to form a government if they can," Radev said. He added that he will also make sure that parties will be able to properly run their campaigns for a possible snap parliamentary elections, noting that August is not the best time for that.

Earlier in the day, the second largest parliamentary group, Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB) said they cannot form a government under the second exploratory mandate and will return it.

Asked which party will receive the third government-formation mandate, Radev said that he will refrain from talking about it before the formal procedure for the second one is completed and noted that "the situation is very dynamic". Under the Constitution, the third mandate goes to a party chosen by the President.

"The fact that seriously discredited figures such as [Movement for Rights and Freedoms Floor Leader] Delyan Peevski can be installed in Bulgarian politics and they can appropriate the right to call themselves Euro-Atlantic politicians, dispense justice, and pose as moral beacons suggests that our political system has become seriously dysfunctional and needs radical surgery," Radev said. "The scalpel is in the hands of Bulgarian voters, whenever the elections take place," the President added. He was reacting to Peevski's comment that instead of convening the Consultative Council on National Security, Radev decided to attend a reception [a reference to the European Political Community Summit] while the country is in the grip of wildfires.

Asked whether Parliament's inability to elect a stable government legitimizes calls for a presidential republic, Radev said this topic has not been brought up by him but by political forces. Questioned about a possible political project of his own, he said: "I am currently fulfilling my duties as President of the Republic of Bulgaria in full compliance with the Bulgarian Constitution."