In addition to Bulgaria’s cabinet crisis following the failure of the prime ministerial rotation, a constitutional crisis is looming as the appointment of an interim prime minister becomes increasingly difficult, Euractiv reports.
Under constitutional changes introduced under the outgoing Nikolay Denkov government, in the event of a cabinet crisis, the president no longer has the right to appoint an interim prime minister of his choice. Instead, the president must choose from a list of senior officials who are considered potential interim prime ministers.
The list includes nine people: the speaker of parliament, the chairman of the National Bank and deputies, the Ombudsman and deputies, the head of the Accounting Chamber and deputies.
The constitutional change was made to prevent President Rumen Radev from ruling the country through interim governments during a growing cabinet crisis and successive snap elections.
Bulgaria is preparing for its sixth parliamentary election in three years, during which Radev has had four interim cabinets. After Mariya Gabriel (GERB, EPP) withdrew her candidacy for prime minister, the president handed the mandate to form a government to the We Continue the Change – Democratic Bulgaria (PP-DB) party, which claimed it could not form a cabinet.
In a final third attempt on Thursday, 28 March, Radev handed the mandate to There is Such a People, who returned the mandate immediately. As three attempts to form a government failed, the president began consultations with officials seen as potential interim prime ministers right away.
However, National Bank Governor Dimitar Radev stated that it would be wrong to involve the National Bank in the political process, making it clear that he and his deputies would reject the nomination.
GERB leader Boyko Borissov urged the president not to appoint parliamentary speaker Rossen Zhelyazkov and the head of the Court of Accounts, as both were political appointees of GERB, while the post of interim prime minister should be held by a politically neutral person.
Meanwhile, Ombudsman Diana Kovacheva, considered the most politically independent on the list, will leave her post on 17 April to take up a Bulgarian judgeship at the ECHR, with her deputy Elena Cherneva-Markova resigning on Wednesday.
Therefore, the only potential candidate at the moment is the deputy head of the Accounts Chamber, Gorica Grancharova-Kozhareva. However, constitutional law experts warned that if the head of the Court of Accounts, having served as interim prime minister, audits his own cabinet, it would become a conflict of interest.
