Bulgaria: Roumen Radev, the President of Bulgaria, held a round of consultations with all seven political groups on July 15, ahead of his decision as to which to offer a 3rd and final mandate to form a government.
The first and second directives went, as the constitution needs, to the respective largest as well as second-largest of the seven parliamentary groups. The constitution of Bulgaria provides the President with a free hand in choosing which group to give the third mandate. At this stage, the time frame for efforts to make a viable government is more flexible than in the last two stages.
The stated objective of Radev’s July 15 consultations was to listen to how each sees a way out of the present political situation, what possibilities they look for coalition talks, a majority in the present Parliament and what priorities they could agree on.
While speaking after the, We Continue the Change (WCC) meeting with the Bulgarian President, WCC co-leader and outgoing PM Kiril Petkov, whose party failed in its bid to rally support for a current government without the requirement for fresh elections, stated that WCC w as prepared for dialogue but we do not want two billion leva to go to eight people rather than going to the people.
GERB-UDF, Parliament’s second-largest group, which on July 14, Thursday denied the second mandate, restated that it did not see a formula for making a stable majority and government.
Bulgarian Socialist Party leader Kornelia Ninova told Radev that if he decides to offer the third mandate to the BSP, the party will make an effort to conduct talks with colleagues to assure a working Parliament and a stable government.
Ninova stated that the BSP would not negotiate with GERB and the MRF but will talk to those who had been the partners of the party in the quadripartite coalition government that took office in December 2021 (and which was carried down by the ITN’s departure during June 2022).