BSP calls on GERB-UDF to return the mandate to form a government unfulfilled

The Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) called on GERB-UDF to return the mandate to form a government unfulfilled and said that Bulgaria should go to early parliamentary elections. At a news briefing on March 18, the deputy chairman of the BSP group, Georgi Svilenski, described the negotiations between GERB-UDF and “ We Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria” (WCC-DB) as a haphazard bargaining.

“Unfortunately , we are witnessing a blatant trade with the state, distribution of posts and regulators,” said Svilenski.

Yesterday,these parties played the whole of Bulgaria with some pointless press conferences where the aim was Borissov (the leader of GERB-UDF) to twist the arms of "We Continue the Change". "We Continue the Change" in turn prayed to him in the evening not to return the mandate and we got to a situation where Peevski of MRF tells them today what to do - not to return the mandate unfulfilled and keep it for another 7 days. Meanwhile, we understand that on Friday Peevski wrote the agreement on the distribution of the regulators," Svilenski said.

Earlier on March 19, President Rumen Radev handed pver a government-forming mandate to Mariya Gabriel of GERB-UDF.

President Radev handed over the first government-forming mandate to Mariya Gabriel of GERB-UDF

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On March 6, 2024, Parliament voted to accept the resignation of the government of PM Nikolai Denkov as part of the planned cabinet rotation.

GERB-UDF and "We Continue to Change-Democratic Bulgaria" agreed last year that Mariya Gabriel would take over as Prime Minister, after Nikolai Denkov completes his nine-month term as rotational PM.

GERB-UDF, We Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria agreed on a rotating PM with the second mandate - Denkov and Gabriel will change every 9 months

The rotation was planned to take place on March 6, 2024 as part of an agreement (in 2023) between the two largest parliamentary groups, GERB-UDF and We Continue the Change – Democratic Bulgaria for rotating PM, according to which Nikolai Denkov and Mariya Gabriel will switch posts as Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister every nine months.

Earlier this month, GERB said that Mariya Gabriel should keep her position as foreign minister while she is Prime Minister and suggested rotation every 15 months instead of 9 months.