On 13 March by virtue of a decree President Rosen Plevneliev will appoint a caretaker cabinet with Prime Minister Marin Raykov. By virtue of another decree the head of state will adjourn the National Assembly on 15 March and will schedule early general election for 12 May. In the Coat of Arms hall at 2 Dondukov boulevard the head of state announced the prime minister and the members of the caretaker government. “I have not allowed anyone to pressure me and I have disregarded the party affiliations,” the President said in a joint statement with Marin Raykov.
The caretaker ministers are undeniable professionals in their spheres, who know well the work done by the institutions and have proved their party non-affiliation, President Rosen Plevneliev explained his choice. None of them has been affiliated to the former communist-era state security, the president added.
The caretaker government will work to reinstate the trust in the institutions and secure more transparency and civic control. It will be a guarantor of fair and free elections, therefore a Civil Board for Fair Elections will be established at the prime minister’s office. The cabinet’s efforts will also be directed at ensuring transparency and efficiency of the regulatory bodies so as to curb the harmful impact of the monopoly structures, Rosen Plevneliev said. The government should draft anti-trust legislation in the energy sector and give the citizens an option to freely choose their electricity supplier. The caretaker government will prepare the legislative amendments whereby a strong and independent regulator will function, one that will be elected by the National Assembly not appointed by the power holders. The public councils at the individual ministries will start promptly functioning and the first topics of debate will be energy, ecology and social policy, the president further added.
Another basic task that the caretaker cabinet will have to tackle is taking adequate action to plan and negotiate the EU funds for Bulgaria until 2020 as well as to prevent a vacuum in the absorption of EU funds. The head of state further added that pensions will be increased, as planned of 1 April.
Conducting democratic elections in compliance with the effective legislation and public expectations and ensuring stability and continuity in the functioning of the state institutions are the first tasks to be performed by the caretaker government, Prime Minister Marin Raykov further added. The government will work on specific measures in the sphere of incomes to improve the status of the Bulgarian pensioners and the underprivileged strata of the Bulgarian population. The “social orientation of the market economy in Bulgaria” will also be supported by creating conditions for growth and recovery from the crisis, the prime minister of the caretaker cabinet said.
On 13 March at 10 o’clock the ceremony marking the continuity between the outgoing cabinet and the caretaker government will be held in the Council of Ministers.