By Ahmet Gencturk
ATHENS (AA) – Bulgaria’s president has handed the mandate to form a government to the centrist GERB party, which came first in early elections last month, local media reported.
Rumen Radev handed a mandate to Rosen Zhelyazkov in his capacity as the prime minister-designate from GERB, who announced the cabinet proposal as soon as he was formally tasked, the state-run BTA news agency reported on Monday.
Highlighting that shortly after Zhelyazkov’s announcement, Radev issued a decree asking parliament to vote on a proposed cabinet, BTA said: “That was surprisingly swift progress for a procedure that usually takes a week.”
During the mandate handover ceremony, the president decried the fragmented parliament and the low turnout in the June 9 elections which, he said, "invariably impacts the legitimacy of institutions and hence needs to be addressed with systematic efforts in the name of the public interest.”
Zhelyazkov, for his part, set out commitments for the possible cabinet, including but not limited to, stabilizing the fiscal model, normalizing public finances, and including a clear legislative program with deadlines that can unite a majority in the name of the country's priorities.
He also emphasized the government’s “strong Euro-Atlantic orientation.”