President Rosen Plevneliev handed down an exploratory mandate for forming a new government to the parliamentary group of the Rights and Freedom’s Movement at 2 Dondukov Street. The mandate was turned down by Lyutvi Mestan, MRF leader. This practically exhausted the option for forming a new government within the current National Assembly, stipulated in the Constitution. The earliest date on which the President will appoint a new caretaker government will be on 13 March, then he will adjourn the 41st National Assembly and will call early general election.
The president once again recalled the steps he had taken to guarantee the country’s stability under the conditions of the current political crisis. The basic aim of the consultations held with the political represented parties in parliament, after GERB’s government resigned, was to debate and seek an opportunity for forming a government which will work together with the functioning 41st National Assembly, which was one of the demands the protesting citizens put forward to the head of state. Rosen Plevneliev emphasized that the inability to secure the parliamentary support needed to form an expert or party cabinet was reiterated by the leaders of the parliamentary represented parties. This was done at the last meeting of the Consultative Council for National Security as well. “Although the three largest parliamentary groups were given the opportunity to form a cabinet, as you all know, they declined the mandate,” Rosen Plevneliev said. He added that since the leader of the DSB had voiced his readiness to form an expert cabinet, the president held consultations for a fourth time in a row with Ivan Kostov and the leaders of the big parliamentary groups, who categorically ruled out any possibility for supporting the formation of a government within the current National Assembly.
President Plevneliev said that he expects the future caretaker government to set the direction and to start resolving the issues that sparked public unrest. “I expect that the things that the caretaker cabinet will do will assist the work done by the next parliament and government in drafting anti-trust legislation and liberalizing the energy sector,” the head of state said. According to the president, the structure of the caretaker cabinet must guarantee the functioning of a socially responsible state and currently the head of state thinks that the sectors the future deputy prime ministers should be in charge of should be those of labor and social policy, economy and EU fund management.
Rosen Plevneliev once again pointed out that the presidential institution would continue to guarantee that the voice of the citizens will be heard and expressed his gratitude for the constructive proposals submitted to the institution, including those related to the activity and regulation of the monopolies. “The proposals have already been published on the president’s website and have already been sent to the National Assembly and the outgoing Council of Ministers. I expect that they will show a responsible attitude to them,” the head of state emphasized. Rosen Plevneliev was adamant that the forthcoming establishment of national councils at the ministries would provide the mechanism whereby civil society will participate in the work done by the executive branch of power. “A prerequisite to this end is a constructive dialogue and a pragmatic approach and I therefore call for adopting a reasonable and constructive attitude,” President Rosen Plevneliev further stated.