Bulgaria's new caretaker government takes oath of office

By Ahmet Gencturk

ATHENS (AA) - Bulgaria’s new caretaker government was sworn in on Tuesday, state news agency BTA reported.

“Our external partners need to see a confident country that follows a steady European course. We will safeguard the sovereignty of the country and work for the well-being of the Bulgarian citizens," caretaker Prime Minister Dimitar Glavchev said in a ceremony in parliament.

Glavchev, 60, is the head of the National Audit Office.

Wishing success to the caretaker government, outgoing Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov, for his part, said: “One of the toughest and most important tasks of a caretaker Cabinet is to ensure free and fair elections. It is an uphill task because trust in some of the political processes has been undermined. I hope that your actions will help reclaim this trust."

The Denkov government was a majority coalition in power since last June.

In mid-March, the planned government rotation between coalition partners and the signing of a renewed government manifesto for the next nine months failed.

On March 26, the conservative GERB-UDF party rejected a final offer from the centrist Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB) party, a former power-sharing partner, to form a government.

GERB's refusal of the deal paved the way for early national elections, the sixth since April 2021.

President Rumen Radev has set June 9 as the date for snap elections. The parliamentary vote is set to coincide with elections for Bulgaria's members of the European Parliament.