PM designate Mariya Gabriel returned an empty folder with the first mandate to President Radev (update)

On May 22, President Rumen Radev received the candidate for Prime Minister, nominated by the largest parliamentary group in the Parliament, Mariya Gabriel, to whom, in accordance with the constitutional procedure, he handed the first exploratory mandate for forming a government within the current Parliament.

Mariya Gabriel, nominate by GERB-UDF, returned the first exploratory mandate to President Radev unfulfilled.

President Rumen Radev said he would hand the second mandate to the second largest parliamentary group, “We Continue the Change – Democratic Bulgaria” (WC-DB), in the coming days.

Mariya Gabriel said she had held intensive talks with the political forces in Parliament in recent days and together with the WCC-DB's prime minister-designate they were of the common opinion that the country needed a regular government with the second mandate to be a national one.

Mariya Gabriel handed back the empty mandate folder and explained.

"The folder that I am returning is empty because in it and on behalf of the GERB-UDF group, I will not allow there to be names of people who are not the result of open and clear talks, based on principles and responsibilities, but are the result of backroom deals. I would not allow that," she told President Radev.

Mariya Gabriel recalled that the talks held with the parties in the Parliament had shown the differences with the BSP at an early stage. And from the meetings with the other political parties it was clear that a majority could be found for a regular government. She gave the example of the constitutional majority that adopted at first reading the amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code and the Judiciary Act, which introduced a mechanism for control of the Prosecutor General.

"I welcome this constitutional majority to carry out the reforms that will allow Bulgaria to have a sense of justice and to talk about a strong and anti-corruption Bulgaria," she said.

Images by BTA, BGNES

According to Gabriel, the talks in the last 48 hours have shown that the basis for stable governance can be between the first two formations in Parliament. GERB-UDF and WCC-DB negotiated with reason and many mutual concessions for the sake of Bulgaria having a government with clear goals and priorities.

"Together with Acad. Denkov the leaders of the two political forces have a clear vision that the second mandate should be national and seek the support of this constitutional majority," she said.

She also confirmed to the President that the two coalitions will nominate a Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister on a rotational basis. She stressed that the Bulgarian citizens and the reputation of Bulgaria remain her priority.

"All together, making the same constructive efforts that I believe this first exploratory mandate was used for, I am convinced that we can show results very soon. Thank you from the bottom of my heart!", she said and handed back the folder.

President Rumen Radev thanked Mariya Gabriel for her efforts to form a government with the first mandate in a highly fragmented parliament and warned:

"When the first mandate fails, each subsequent one means even more severe and sometimes hard to explain compromises and risks for society. The path you are on requires a lot of intensive work. And above all, intensive communication to the Bulgarian public."

President Radev called on the MPs, along with the procedure for electing a government, not to forget the legislative part of their work.

"They should not delay the adoption of the budget and the important laws because they are expected by the Bulgarian citizens and are extremely important for the Bulgarian state," Radev said.

President Radev will hand over the second mandate in the coming days.

An hour before the GERB-UDF returned the mandate to the President, the candidates for prime minister of GERB-UDF, Mariya Gabriel, and of "We Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria", Nikolay Denkov, gave a briefing at which it became clear that the first mandate would not be fulfilled because the two political forces had reached an agreement on a cabinet with a second mandate with a prime minister on a rotating basis.

There will be two prime ministers and they will rotate every 9 months. In the first 9 months, the proposal is that Nikolay Denkov will be prime minister and Mariya Gabriel will be deputy prime minister and minister of foreign affairs. For the next 9 months - the prime minister will be Mariya Gabriel and Denkov will take over as deputy prime minister. Changes in the initial personnel and structure of the Council of Ministers will be made only with the consent of both parties.

President Radev handed over first mandate to seek to form a government to PM designate Mariya Gabriel nominated by GERB-UDF

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