ESD 09:39:01 12-05-2021
LN0954ES.105
105 - POLITICS - CARETAKER GOVERNMENT - PRESIDENT

President Presents Caretaker Government

Sofia, May 12 (BTA) - President Rumen Radev presented here on Wednesday the composition, structure and priorities of the caretaker Government he appointed. "There are difficult months ahead of us, with grave inheritance and strong resistance from the establishment forces," he said. In his words, the caretaker Government is faced with multiple important tasks: "to ensure the normal functioning of the State, guarantee fair elections by waging war on vote buying, find out  what the real picture in the country is, make the initial steps to strengthen statehood and show Bulgarians that their country can be run with honesty, transparency and responsibility".

The caretaker Government steps in office after none of the three political groups in the short-lived 45th National Assembly, to which the President presented exploratory mandates - the formerly ruling GERB, the second largest There Is Such a People and the third largest Bulgarian Socialist Party - was able or willing to form a government.

The President said the caretaker Government aspires to embody democratic unity and proves that "it is possible for democrats of various political affiliations to overcome the obsolete divisions and red lines" - which the short-lived 45th National Assembly failed to do.

"Albeit a caretaker one, the government I am appointing today has the ambition to be a government operating in democratic unity. It is composed of people from the Left, the Centre and the Right, of politically neutral people, professionals, proven administrators and experts, free entrepreneurs, mouthpieces of public discontent and representatives of the academia," the President said.

This is the second caretaker government appointed by President Radev since he stepped in office close to five years ago. It will govern the country until a regular cabinet elected by the next Parliament steps in. Radev hopes to see a regular government, nominated by the 46th National Assembly, emerge after the elections on July 11.

The 45th Parliament was one of many emotions, the President said, adding that, albeit short-lived, it had not been in vain. "It will remain as a dramatic marker of society's extraction from the clutches of authoritarianism and corruption. The people put their hopes in it, opinions long held back were heard. The spirit of parliamentarism and free speech was reborn,'' Radev said. However, he added that it had not lived up to the hopes for a new government stepping on a firm foundation, honour and law.
 
The President did not miss the chance to criticize Borissov's cabinet. "The outgoing Government squeezed out the purse with questionable projects and haphazard pre-election spending, abdicated from responsibility and did not table in Parliament a budget update, leaving pensioners, medics and business without financial support at the most difficult time,'' Radev said.

The head of State noted that the caretaker government ministers will have to overcome the consequences of the pandemic, bring order to the vaccination chaos and make the difficult decision about the Recovery and Resilience Plan.

He dedicated extra time commenting the Recovery and Resilience Plan and said it was drafted by the previous Government in secret conditions and without clear public criteria. The President pointed out that, without denying the work of experts and proven numerous teams, the caretaker Government will have to compare the criteria and indicators, based on  the European requirements, with what has been offered to date, to take into account many rational suggestions concerning the plan in a short period of time, including from the Presidency which proposed five concrete projects. Radev noted that these projects are based on clear principles and priorities for investments in human capital, new leading and globally recognized technologies, digitization and innovations, protection of Bulgarian nature, transparent, responsible and effective governance. These had been overlooked by the government to date, he added.
 
Caretaker Prime Minister Stefan Yanev said he is not a man of empty promises and what he promises on this day is to work honestly, in line with the rule of law and the interest of the public. "This is also what I will expect from the caretaker ministers appointed by the President. We will work for the citizens together, we will work to the benefit of the citizens," Yanev said.

The caretaker Government will operate under the motto "Honesty, transparency and professionalism".

Yanev said he cannot vouch that for the short period it will be in power, the caretaker Government will manage to solve the problems amassed over the years, but that they would do everything they can to ensure that the process of resolving these problems starts. "An honest and responsible governance of the caretaker cabinet can at least regain part of the lost confidence in institutions," he said.

"All efforts needed will be made to provide the more effective political communication society expects, more rational and adequate talking and action," Yanev added.
   
He also said the most important thing was to upkeep the rule of law.
   
He recalled that the main priority of the caretaker Government, as set down in the Constitution, is to organize and hold free, fair and democratic elections, in strict observance of legal provisions. Yanev expects all institutions to work synchronously and be absolutely uncompromising at any attempts at violations.
   
The caretaker Prime Minister declared the Government would work to restore the dialogue with business, including SMEs which particularly suffered from the pandemic.

The thanked everyone in the health sector who have been fighting to curb the crisis and help patients for over a year. Yanev also expressed gratitude to the teachers for, in his words, health and education are the basic values of a developed society.
 
The ceremony at the Presidency ended with the swearing in of the caretaker Government. LN/BR