site.btaUPDATED President Urges Foreign Ministry to Comply with Constitution and Diplomatic Appointment Procedures

President Rumen Radev has called on the Foreign Ministry to comply strictly with the Constitution and the procedures for the appointment of heads of the Bulgarian embassies, Radev's Press Secretariat said.

The President said in a position released on Tuesday: "I expect the Council of Ministers to propose to me a candidate for the post of Ambassador to Ukraine with proven qualities and professional expertise." Under the Constitution, ambassadors are appointed by presidential decree on a proposal of the Council of Ministers.

Radev said: "The Denkov-Gabriel cabinet insisted that I appoint Nikolay Nenchev as Bulgaria's Ambassador to Ukraine. I refused firmly because the candidate does not have the required professional qualities and expertise for this important post."

Instead of proposing a candidate for ambassador to Ukraine, the Foreign Ministry has decided to appoint Nikolay Nenchev as the new charge d'affaires of the Bulgarian Embassy, the President said. In his view, this is "an unjustified lowering of the level of diplomatic representation and a blatant circumvention of the Constitution and the established procedure" for the appointment of heads of Bulgaria's diplomatic missions.

Bulgaria has had no ambassador in Kyiv since the beginning of Russia's war against Ukraine in 2022. Nenchev was defence minister of Boyko Borissov's government between November 2014 and January 2017.

On Monday, the Bulgarian National Radio quoted Atlantic Club in Bulgaria President Solomon Passy as saying that Nenchev had been approved as Bulgaria's diplomatic representative to Ukraine. Passy spoke to the media at a conference in Sofia on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the establishment of NATO, organized by the Atlantic Club in Bulgaria.

At this point the caretaker government has not confirmed that Nenchev will be posted to Kyiv. A charge d'affaires is not appointed by a presidential decree.