site.btaMRF Chair Peevski: President Violated Constitution

President Rumen Radev has violated the Constitution by replacing the caretaker prime minister-designate, Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) Chairperson and floor leader Delyan Peevski said after the new caretaker government was sworn in in Parliament on Tuesday.

Peevski asked how Radev had cancelled the decree designating Goritsa Grancharova-Kozhareva as caretaker prime minister. “He violated the Constitution, I am surprised that none of my colleagues reacted,” Peevski said. In his words, the President is in "absolute violation of the Constitution" and if this is established, he will automatically be removed from office. According to Peevski, if the court rules that the head of State has violated the basic law, there is no need for an impeachment procedure.

Peevski also said that the assessment of the caretaker government should be given by the one who appointed it in violation of the Constitution.

We cannot take the matter to court, Peevski further said, adding that "all parties are on their knees" before him, referring to the President. “I will expose him and I guarantee that Bulgaria will belong to the Bulgarians, and not to Russia and Moscow,” the MRF Chair added.

“As I listen to them, all interior ministers are my appointments,” Peevski said reacting to allegations by Vazrazhdane and Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria that the new caretaker minister Atanas Ilkov is close to him. 

Under Article 103 of the Bulgarian Constitution, the President shall not be held liable for actions committed in the performance of their duties, except for high treason, or a violation of the Constitution. An impeachment requires a motion from no fewer than one quarter of all Members of the National Assembly and shall stand if supported by more than two-thirds of the Members. An impeachment against the President shall be tried by the Constitutional Court within a month following the lodging of the impeachment. Should the Constitutional Court convict the President of a violation of the Constitution, the President's prerogatives shall be suspended, the Constitution says.