Foreign minister switch exposes Borissov’s influence over interim government

7 months ago 35

In another lightning reshuffle, caretaker Prime Minister Dimitar Glavchev appointed GERB MP Daniel Mitov as foreign minister, replacing the week-long incumbent Stefan Dimitrov, after this was proposed by GERB leader and former prime minister Boyko Borissov.

The request to appoint Mitov came from Borissov on Monday evening, and Glavchev accepted it two hours later even though with elections set for 9 June, the caretaker government is supposed to guarantee fair elections.

“We bear no responsibility for the foreign minister. And if Glavchev does not replace him, there will be no support from GERB. Because he changed the doctrine that had the Foreign Ministry, the Ministry of Defence and our party,” Borissov said.

“If Dimitar Glavchev does not comply with the recommendation to replace (Foreign Minister) Stefan Dimitrov, I will make him comply afterwards,” Borissov told Glavchev – a former GERB MP who had promised to be an independent influence.

Glachev’s political independence is even more important as his government is to supervise the early parliamentary elections and the European elections, which are to be held on the same day.

The reshuffle in the Foreign Ministry exposed and reflected the power-sharing in government between GERB and President Rumen Radev, who formally appointed the caretaker government.

In order to approve Mitov’s replacement of Dimitrov, who enjoys the president’s support, Radev negotiated the replacement of Agriculture Minister Kiril Vatev with Georgi Takhov. This will give GERB control of foreign policy, while the president will appoint someone from his political circle to the Agriculture Ministry.

The proposal for the president to take control of the agriculture ministry came after vice-president Iliana Yotova gave a clear signal that the presidency backed Dimitrov.

“This official cabinet, at least for now, does not pass the test. If, indeed, it turns out that this is a cabinet that is not independent but party-based, suspicions will grow,” said Yotova.

Mitov’s appointment as foreign minister comes after a series of twists and turns. While Mitov is to replace Dimitrov after only a week in office, Dimitrov himself was proposed in a last-minute decision to replace the previously proposed long-term consul in Austria, Ivaylo Tsenov.

“All this is the result of domestic political ambitions and fights located in the field of foreign policy. Bulgarian foreign policy and Bulgaria, in international terms, suffer from this. The foreign policy debate has been reduced to posts and emptied of substance. The low level of the debate is an insult to the Bulgarian society and the professional diplomatic community”, the long-serving diplomat and former Bulgarian ambassador in London, Lyubomir Kyuchukov, told Euracitv Bulgaria.

“Does anyone still have doubts whose so-called caretaker government is this?” Borisov has just admitted that it is his. He arranged it, negotiated it, ordered it, threatened it. This person is the basis of the backstage and parallel power in Bulgaria. PP-DB are to blame for his return,” said Kornelia Ninova, leader of the pro-Russian Bulgarian Socialist Party, which will contest for at least two seats in the European Parliament in the June elections.

(Krassen Nikolov | Euractiv.bg)