Bulgaria will have a caretaker cabinet, de jure within seven days – this became clear enough after the third biggest party represented in Bulgarian parliament – the Movement for Rights and Freedoms waived its right to form another cabinet within the current 42nd National Assembly. It handed the exploratory mandate to form a government back to the President a soon as he had given it them, as had the first two political forces before them – GERB and the Bulgarian Socialist Party. With this the constitutional roulette has been played out and, in accordance with the procedure, within one week the Bulgarian head of state will appoint a caretaker government for a term of two months. On August 6, he will issue a decree for the dissolution of parliament and will set the date for general elections on October 5, 2014, as agreed by the leading political forces during consultations called by President Plevneliev a month ago.
The future caretaker cabinet will be the second caretaker government within the term of office of President Rossen Plevneliev, a precedent for Bulgaria. The events that led up to it were: a permanent parliamentary crisis as the National Assembly was incessantly unable to meet a quorum, political scandal and mud-slinging, followed by the long-awaited resignation of Plamen Oresharski’s compromise minority cabinet and the tacit support of Ataka on the very edge of legitimacy. The government came to power after early elections in a year of protests and is stepping down after one year of protest from day one. This is one of the most short-lived governments in the history of Bulgaria after the democratic changes in 1989. It will be remembered for its unscrupulousness in making appointments and its efforts to stay in power at all costs, including procedural tricks and foot-dragging even after the European Parliamentary elections in May that showed the sovereign’s firm desire for change. It will also be remembered for the unprecedented security measures it took to protect itself from the “love” of the nation and its backroom oligarchic dependencies, for its undemocratic isolation of the opposition in parliament – the leading political force and winner in the last three elections GERB - and for the tremors in the banking system.That is how the 42nd National Assembly will be remembered with one last possible sitting on Monday that is not likely to take place. A sitting that would make possible the cabinet-proposed update of the national budget and of the budget of the National Health Insurance Fund aimed at giving the caretaker cabinet more security over a period when there will be no functioning National Assembly. According to the Bulgarian Constitution the caretaker cabinet cannot perform budget updates, nor can it conclude international loan agreements. Next Tuesday, August 5, the Bulgarian head of state will make public the names of the members of the caretaker cabinet and it will come into office on the following day with the main task of making preparations for a fair and democratic election.
What does the Movement for Rights and Freedoms expect of this cabinet and did it set President Plevneliev any conditions? The answer from its leader Lyutvi Mestan:
“The President agrees that the responsibilities of the caretaker cabinet cannot be restricted solely to organizing and holding the elections. Because with the exception of the legislative initiatives, restricted objectively because there is no functioning parliament, on all other issues the cabinet has full powers. We have set absolutely no conditions regarding the caretaker government. And we stated our express desire that this should be a cabinet of the Republic of Bulgaria. I think that that is what the President will achieve.”
English version: Milena Daynova
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