President Radev held consultations with the third largest parliamentary group

President Rumen Radev on April 21 continues consultations with the representatives of the parliamentary groups in the 49th National Assembly to discuss the formation of a government. The first talks of the day were with “Vazrazhdane” Group. The representatives of the party in the meeting were Kostadin Kostadinov, Petar Petrov, Tsoncho Ganev and Nikolay Drenchev.

"I congratulate you on your high election result - an expression of the trust that many Bulgarian citizens place in you. It is evident that with every election your parliamentary representation increases, but so does your responsibility. This National Assembly has to do a lot of catching up from what was left undone from previous Parliaments. What time frame do you expect for the adoption of the state budget and the handing over of mandates? Do your priorities coincide with what you have heard from the other political forces," President Rumen Radev asked.

Kostadin Kostadinov, the chairman of "Vazrazhdane", said that the number one priority should be the adoption of the State Budget Act because the country is in an unprecedented situation. "Vazrazhdane" also insisted on their bill on changes in the judicial system, which was adopted at first reading by the 48th National Assembly.

It is important to have political stability, but it should not be at any cost, said the party's leader Kostadin Kostadinov. He expressed indignation at the statements of most political forces to adopt bills linked to Bulgaria's membership in the eurozone, given that a referendum on this issue is currently being organised. Regarding the legislative programme of GERB-UDF and “We Continue the Change – Democratic Bulgaria”, he said that at the moment only requests are heard, but nothing specific has reached him.

Kotadinov said that the main tasks were to preserve Bulgarian currency (the Bulgarian lev) and financial independence; to be as distanced as possible from the conflict in Ukraine; to renegotiate Sofia's relations with its EU partners; and to have political stability but not at any cost, because “there we have already had a 12-year stable governance by GERB, but now Bulgaria is suffering the consequences,” Kostadinov said.

Kostadinov raised the issue of the renegotiation of the Recovery and Resilience Plan, noting unsatisfactory progress by the caretaker government.

President Rumen Radev said that he expects developments by the end of April.

Today, the head of state will also meet the Movement for Rights and Freedoms, BSP for Bulgaria and “There is Such a People”, which will conclude the round of consultations.

After consultations with all parliamentary parties, the head of state will hand over the first exploratory mandate for forming a government to GERB-UDF.

Images by Dessislava Kulelieva