Borissov’s GERB gains control over caretaker government

7 months ago 31

President Rumen Radev chose Dimitar Glavchev, a key figure in Bulgaria’s largest party, GERB, as caretaker prime minister and tasked him with forming a caretaker government to lead the country until a permanent government is formed.

Until he was appointed prime minister, Glavchev, whose political career is entirely linked to GERB (EPP), was head of Bulgaria’s National Audit Office and, before that, he was an MP from the party of long-standing ex-prime minister Boyko Borissov.

“Bulgaria’s membership in the Eurozone is my priority, as well as the full Schengen membership, because I am convinced that these two things will improve the lives of Bulgarian citizens,” said Glavchev as he accepted the task of forming a caretaker government on Saturday evening.

Glavchev was appointed prime minister despite Borissov’s insistence that key party members should not take responsibility for running the country until early elections, most likely in June.

Bulgaria has seen six elections in three years. A week ago, the pro-EU government of Prime Minister Nikolai Denkov fell from power after the two main political formations, GERB and PP-DB, failed to agree on a change of ministers.

The preliminary agreement was that Denkov would be replaced as prime minister by former European Commissioner Mariya Gabriel (GERB), but GERB broke off negotiations over a disagreement on who should be the interior minister.

The failure of these negotiations left the choice of a future caretaker prime minister in the hands of Radev, who had to choose from among 10 people in high positions in the state apparatus.

In the end, he chose Glavchev (EPP) over Andrey Gyurov of the We Continue the Change party, which is seeking membership of the Liberal group in the European Parliament.

Glavchev also promised that the future caretaker government would consist mainly of experts rather than political figures.

The latest polls show that the elections will not change the political status quo in Bulgaria.

GERB is expected to remain the leading political force with 23-25% of the vote, followed by the coalition We Continue the Change – Democratic Bulgaria with 18-20%, the pro-Russian radical party Vazrazhdane with 12-14% and the party of the Turkish minority, DPS (ALDE), with a similar result. The Bulgarian Socialist Party, which also follows the Kremlin narrative, is set to obtain 9-10%.

(Krassen Nikolov | Euractiv.bg)