“The so-called French offer contains a large part of the basic Bulgarian requirements, but it could have been much more successful as a whole, including the Bulgarian-Macedonian protocol,” President Rumen Radev said in his first public statement on the two most important political events of the week – the vote of no confidence in parliament which brought down the government of Kiril Petkov, and the decision by parliament to approve the so-called French offer and lift this country’s veto on the launch of EU accession negotiations with North Macedonia.

• 123 votes bring down government of Bulgarian PM Kiril Petkov
• National Assembly approves French offer on EU accession negotiations with North Macedonia
• PM Kiril Petkov: Bulgarian National Assembly's decision on Republic of North Macedonia is historic
  

According to the Bulgarian head of state, this could have happened if the politicians had given more attention to the whole process, and if the foreign ministry diplomats had not relied solely on the presidential institution, and had not wasted time and energy in an attempt to streamline the diverging policy of the Prime Minister into acceptable frameworks.

• The presidential institution is getting to be too small for Rumen Radev, he wants real power, Kornelia Ninova says
  

Rumen Radev is paying a visit to Graf Ignatievo Air Base near Plovdiv on the occasion of the 110th anniversary of the first combat flight of Bulgaria’s aviation.