site.btaSecond Glavchev Caretaker Cabinet Steps in Office

The caretaker government of Dimitar Glavchev took the oath in office on Tuesday at an extraordinary meeting of Parliament. The ceremony was attended by President Rumen Radev and Vice President Iliana Iotova. 

Earlier in the day, the President’s Office said that President Radev had decreed the appointment of the caretaker government and has scheduled general elections on October 27. 

It comes a day after caretake Prime Minister-designate Dimitar Glavchev presented the structure and line-up of the cabinet – his second in a row, due to Parliament’s failure to elect a government. Only three ministers have changed in the new composition: of the Interior, of Transport and of Foreign Affairs.

It is the second attempt to form a caretaker cabinet in this procedure after exactly a week ago the President refused to decree the appointment of a government proposed by caretaker Prime Minister-designate Goritsa Grancharova-Kozhareva over the presence in the list of Interior Minister Kalin Stoyanov.

On his way into Parliament for the swear-in, President Radev commented for the press that "despite the risk of the State being blocked because of the constitutional amendments, today we already have an appointed cabinet and a date for the [early parliamentary] elections, but the crisis is not over". He argued that a solution to the political crisis will be found when the National Assembly succeeds in forming a stable majority and that majority renders up an efficient government.

"I leave aside speculation about whose proxy caretaker [Interior] Minister Atanas Ilkov is, this will become evident from his actions," the President commented.

The political forces grabbed the opportunity to speak to the press.

GERB leader Boyko Borissov told journalists in Parliament that President Radev and Prime Minister Glavchev deserve praise for the shared responsibility for this government. “These two statesmen were able to look at the bigger picture and managed to form a cabinet,” Borissov said. He said this is a step forward and political parties should start thinking about sharing responsibility.

Commenting on the composition of the new caretaker cabinet, Borissov said that the names of the new ministers were most likely proposed by the president.

CC-DB Co-leader Atanas Atanasov said his coalition takes “a distrustful approach to the caretaker Cabinet and especially to the Prime Minister, who is a top-level GERB party nomenklatura". He added that the new caretaker Interior Minister belongs to the "inner circle" of his predecessor Kalin Stoyanov.

MRF floor leader Delyan Peevski commented for the press that the assessment of the caretaker government should be given by the one “who appointed it in violation of the Constitution”. That was a reference to the President.

The BSP for Bulgaria floor leader Borislav Gutsanov told reporters that in addition to ensuring the fairness of the October 27 snap elections, the new government should do everything to address the water supply problem in some parts of Bulgaria. He called the water shortage issue "an insanity" affecting over a million people.

Asked whether TISP trusts the second Glavchev caretaker cabinet and the new interior minister to organize the October elections, There Is Such a People MP Stanislav Balabanov said that the latest constitutional changes put the power in the hands of such people as GERB leader Boyko Borissov and Movement for Rights and Freedoms floor leader Delyan Peevski. "Whether Kalin Stoyanov or Atanas Ilkov is interior minister, we should obey the Constitution, good or bad. In the 51st Parliament, TISP will do everything to correct these mistakes and correct the Constitution in order to placate the nation and end the speculations once and for all, because the marionettes in the executive government are a strong factor at present," Balabanov said.