site.btaPresident Gives Second Government-forming Mandate to CC-DB, They Plan to Return It Unfulfilled

President Rumen Radev is expected on Monday, July 22, to present the second exploratory mandate for forming a government after the early parliamentary elections on June 9, the President's press secretariat said. He will give it to the second-largest parliamentary group, Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB), who are expected to hand it back unfulfilled as soon as they receive it.

CC-DB emerged from the elections as the third-largest force, but a subsequent rift in the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) caused the MRF parliamentary group to shrink, leaving CC-DB as number two in the National Assembly behind election winners GERB-UDF.

CC-DB came up with a declaration proposing a three-month delay of the government-forming procedure in order to deal with the political crisis, but none of the other parliamentary forces supported the plan. Therefore, CC-DB said they will return the mandate unfulfilled. The decision was announced by CC-DB Deputy Floor Leader Bozhidar Bozhanov in a media statement at the National Assembly.

A series of meetings with the other parliamentary parties (exclusive of MRF) led CC-DB to conclude that they are not supported in their approach, which involves adopting a package of anti-corruption measures and decisions.

According to the declaration proposed by CC-DB, the National Assembly should adopt seven pieces of legislation and resolutions, including electing members to the Counter-corruption Commission, passing a new law on the judicial power, and amending the special laws regulating the work of the security services.

The Constitution says that if the second exploratory mandate for forming a government is returned unfulfilled, the President should task another parliamentary group of his choosing to name a Prime Minister-designate.