site.btaUPDATED President Refuses to Decree New Caretaker Cabinet

President Rumen Radev Monday set a precedent in Bulgaria's contemporary history as he refused to decree a new caretaker cabinet proposed by prime minister-designate Goritsa Grancharova-Kozhareva because of Kalin Stoyanov's nomination for caretaker interior minister. 

The President gave Grancharova-Kozhareva until 3 p.m. on Monday to propose a different interior minister. The PM-designate said that she made a well-informed decision and would not back down.

Radev said that, in this case, the new caretaker cabinet will not be sworn in by Parliament on Tuesday and the next early parliamentary elections will not be held on October 20 as initially planned.

The head of State urged Parliament to do what is necessary to broaden the pool of senior office holders from which he can select a caretaker prime minister. That pool was narrowed by the latest amendments to the Constitution, adopted in December 2023, to the Chair of the National Assembly, the Governor or a Deputy Governor of the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB), the President or a Vice President of the National Audit Office, and the Ombudsman or a Deputy Ombudsman.

The President said that out of the dozen or so potential nominees for PM, two positions are vacant, the term of the holders of two other has expired, and those in the central bank involve complications arising from EU legislation.

He was referring to Diana Kovatcheva, who vacated office as National Ombudsman after her election to the Еuropean Court of Human Rights. Deputy Ombudsman Elena Cherneva-Markova quit shortly before Dimitar Glavchev's caretaker Cabinet was formed according to the new rules. Glavchev himself was previously President of the Bulgarian National Audit Office (BNAO), and Grancharova-Kozhareva and Toshko Todorov were BNAO Vice-Presidents, but their term in office ran out in 2022 and Parliament has failed to elect their successors so far. BNB Governor Dimitar Radev and Deputy Governors Petar Chobanov and Radoslav Milenkov have proved ineligible because of incompatibility under EU regulations. The third Deputy Governor, Andrey Gurov, has been suspended from office pending a court judgment. National Assembly Chair Raya Nazaryan has declared that she does not wish to head a caretaker cabinet.

"Despite these deficiencies and complications, I will continue to work with these potential nominees who have declined to be designated so far, so that the deepening of the political crisis can be contained," Radev said.