President's meetings with the potential caretaker prime ministers are over
President Rumen Radev's meetings with potential caretaker prime ministers have ended. The talks started on March 28, immediately after “There is Such a People” returned the third government-forming mandate unfulfilled and the constitutional procedure started.
Today, March 29, the Head of State held talks with Ombudsman Diana Kovacheva, BNB Deputy Governors Petar Chobanov, Andrei Gyurov and Radoslav Milenkov, as well as the deputy chairs of the National Audit Office, Toshko Todorov and Goritsa Grancharova-Kozhareva.
Ombudsman, Diana Kovacheva, told the President that she cannot be caretaker prime minister because she was elected judge at the Strasbourg Human Rights Court and is leaving soon. She will resign as Ombudsman next week.
According to her, the Ombudsman and the Deputy Ombudsman should stay away from politics. A similar opinion was shared by her deputy Elena Cherneva - Markova, who resigned a few days ago for personal reasons.
BNB Deputy Governor, Radoslav Milenkov, commented on whether he would accept the post of caretaker prime minister with reference to yesterday's words of BNB Governor, Dimitar Radev. He said it was not a good idea for the central bank to get involved in political processes. Besides, there are ECB rules, according to which senior positions in central banks should not be mixed with such posts.
"Yesterday, the BNB Governor clearly outlined where the BNB is positioned in the national and international framework. In this context, let me remind you that I am a member of the Supervisory Board of the European Central Bank," Milenkov said on his way out of the meeting with Head of State, Rumen Radev.
Another of the BNB's Deputy Governors, Petar Chobanov, said he shared the Governor's opinion, namely that the central bank's staff should not hold political posts.
"I am busy with the preparation for joining the euro area and further economic development. The BNB team should continue to act and move forward. From now on, each of us must comply with the president's final decision," he said.
The inclusion of the Governor and the Deputy Governors of the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) in this procedure is a decision of the legislator, BNB Deputy Governor Andrei Gyurov said on his way out of a meeting with the President on the procedure for appointing a caretaker Prime Minister.
"I am here to implement the constitutional procedure. What we discussed with the President was the role and tasks of the BNB in the process of joining the eurozone," Gyurov said.
Asked whether he would become caretaker prime minister, Gyurov said these were hypothetical questions and the responsibility was in the President's hands to find a solution.
Deputy heads of the National Audit Office, Goritsa Kozhareva and Toshko Todorov, declined specific comment after the meeting with the President. They said they were very worried. Todorov said his wife had not slept for a month out of worry. The two believe it is a misunderstanding to limit the choice of caretaker prime minister to just 10 people. They said there were more worthy people to hold the post.
Yesterday, the President held talks with Parliament Speaker, Rosen Zhelyazkov, BNB Governor, Dimitar Radev, and the Head of the Audit Office, Dimitar Glavchev.
According to the changes in the Constitution adopted in 2023, the Head of State may choose a caretaker prime minister from among the Speaker of Parliament, the Governor and the three Deputy Governors of the Bulgarian National Bank, the Chair of the National audit Office and his two deputies, as well as the Ombudsman and the Deputy Ombudsman. Deputy Ombudsman, Elena Cherneva-Markova resigned. Thus, the number of possible caretaker prime ministers became one less.
Once the talks are over, the Head of State should announce his decision on who he chose as caretaker prime minister and issue a decree appointing him. And the caretaker prime minister should form a government. The Constitution does not specify a timeframe for this to be done.
Images by BTA
