Consultations with the President on the formation of a government with the political parties represented in the 51st National Assembly begin today, December 15. The constitutional procedure started after Parliament accepted the resignation of the Zhelyazkov cabinet on Friday.
The first to enter talks at the Presidency was Denitsa Sacheva, Deputy Chair of the GERB–UDF parliamentary group. The meeting with the head of state began at 10:00.
“Thank you for coming and for restoring the honour of the men in your party. History has often shown that, at critical moments, men hide behind women, so this does you credit. The coalition you led demonstrated wisdom by submitting its resignation as a result of the large-scale protests across the country. You are now also expected to show responsibility. Bulgarian citizens expect stability and responsibility in governance, regardless of who is in power, particularly with regard to the 2026 budget and the introduction of the euro in the complex situation our country finds itself in. You can already hear voices from all sides hoping for improvements in the conditions for fair and transparent elections. In this context, we would like to hear your position on matters concerning the possibility of a new governing configuration within the 51st National Assembly, or whether you have in fact already taken a firm course towards early elections. Do you intend to initiate or support changes to the Electoral Code that would guarantee greater transparency and fairness in elections? And have you definitively abandoned the advancement of the revised budget you submitted, and are we now heading towards an extension budget law for 2026?” the President said.
“The only general in politics for whom I work knows very well when it is time for men and when it is time for women. His decisions have shown that wisdom is more important than the crude demonstration of strength. For us, entering the presidential institution is like entering the largest party headquarters,” Denitsa Sacheva said.
According to her, there have been 11 caretaker governments during the transition period, seven of them appointed by the President, all within the past nine years.
“This can hardly be a symbol of unity for the nation. Rather, it points to work in the direction of deep division, which we ourselves can see destroys public trust and leads people to become disillusioned with institutions as a whole, not merely with one government or another. We were guided precisely by this understanding—that this series of elections, this political crisis, should stop—and that is why we sat down at the table with our traditional opponents, such as the Bulgarian Socialist Party, with whom we have never hidden that we have differences. We sat down together with ‘There Is Such a People’, with whom we also have differences on certain positions, but our decision was to stop this spiral of elections and to give a breath of stability both to the state and to its institutions and administration.”
“We asked for a postponement of 20 days in which we could adopt the budget that had already been agreed with employers’ organisations and trade unions, and we asked for this window of time to guide the country through the trials that lie ahead. Unfortunately, political leaders who sought to ride the protests—and unfortunately you yourself also called more for resignation and elections rather than for granting us this window to fulfil our political commitments—and we listened to those voices,” Sacheva noted.
She announced that an extension budget would be submitted in the coming hours.
“We acknowledge our mistakes, especially regarding the initial version of the budget, which suffered from a lack of coordination with trade unions and employers,” the GERB representative added.
“We will not take part in the formation of another cabinet within the 51st National Assembly. Our position is that there is clearly a need for a restart of public trust,” Sacheva said.
“I have never been eager to form caretaker governments; you know how difficult this task is,” the President stressed.
Radev explained that he had not wanted an extension budget and that he would not discuss whether there was a political project within the framework of the consultations.
“As for my political project—this is not the place for debates about whether it exists or not, or to discuss whether the cat is alive or dead. I am referring to Schrödinger’s cat, and your colleague Tomislav Donchev is an expert in this field. I suggest we do not allow these consultations to turn into an election campaign,” the head of state said.
“I agree with you that searching for a black cat in a dark room, especially when there is no cat in the room, is a difficult task. But it is not I, nor the political party GERB, who constantly cast doubt on parliamentary democracy,” Sacheva replied.
“We will do everything necessary to ensure a smooth transition to joining the eurozone and will continue to fulfil our commitments,” the GERB representative added.
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