site.btaUPDATED President Iotova Hands First Government-Forming Mandate to Progressive Bulgaria's PM Nominee Rumen Radev
President Iliana Iotova on Thursday handed the first exploratory mandate for forming a government to Rumen Radev, nominated for prime minister by Progressive Bulgaria, the largest parliamentary group in the 52nd National Assembly.
"We have a nominee for prime minister, and that is Rumen Radev," Progressive Bulgaria Floor Leader Petar Vitanov told President Iotova during the ceremony.
In line with the Constitution, President Iotova held consultations with representatives of the parliamentary groups in the newly elected National Assembly on May 5 before assigning the mandate for the formation of a regular government.
Bulgarian citizens have placed great trust in Progressive Bulgaria, awarding it first place in the 52nd National Assembly with a decisive majority, Iotova told Radev during the ceremony on Thursday.
After years of successive political crises, Bulgarian citizens' expectations are for stable and effective governance; these are also the expectations of our partners throughout Europe and internationally, the President added.
Rumen Radev, who stepped down as president earlier this year in a bid to enter parliament in the April 19 snap general electios, said that for Progressive Bulgaria the mandate to form a government was an enormous responsibility, which the party accepted and sought to justify through tireless work and dedication. He said that, after years of political instability, Bulgarian citizens had delivered their verdict in the latest elections and had brought the political crisis to an end. According to him, voters had also reaffirmed their desire for stable institutions, freedom, democracy, and justice by giving a parliamentary majority to a single political force.
"I am not speaking empty words here - you can check for yourselves: in our entire democratic history, there has never been another government formed so quickly immediately after elections," Radev said as he presented President Iotova with the structure and composition of the proposed cabinet after receiving the exploratory mandate. He stressed that the party has a sense of responsibility and understands what lies ahead. "These are enormous challenges that we will tackle together with Parliament and the institution of the presidency," he noted.
"First and foremost, to break the trend of galloping prices, difficult as that may be," Radev commented his future cabinet's upcoming tasks. As a second priority, he pointed to the election of a new Supreme Judicial Council and its Inspectorate. The state budget is also a priority, Radev noted. "I hope that very soon we will understand what a hidden deficit means and what its dimensions are," he commented. According to him, efforts will also focus on ensuring that funds under the Recovery and Resilience Plan are not lost.
"I can assure you that we are also working on policies with a long-term horizon," Rumen Radev told President Iotova. He stressed that the goal is to guarantee the country's modern and accelerated development, as well as the security and prosperity of its citizens.
At the beginning of his remarks, before presenting the structure and composition of his draft cabinet, Rumen Radev recalled the period when he served as president and Iotova as vice president.
"Statistics show that during the past nine years as president and vice president, you and I have handed out 27 mandates, most of them in the last five years, for the formation of a government," he noted.
/KK/
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