Podcast in English
Text size
Bulgarian National Radio © 2024 All Rights Reserved

If no government is formed, there will be new elections in March at the earliest: President Radev

Photo: BGNES-archive

The consultations under President Rumen Radev with the parties represented in the parliament to form a government turned into a dispute over the rearming of the Bulgarian army during the meeting between the president and the "Democratic Bulgaria" coalition. 

The president criticized the thesis that Bulgaria should provide its old Soviet weaponry to Ukraine in order to receive older NATO systems from its allies in return. 
The co-chairman of "Democratic Bulgaria" Hristo Ivanov replied that the problem with the delayed modernization of the army was systemic. The politician emphasized that the president speculated that if Sofia gave weapons to Ukraine, it would enter as a country in the war, because other Western countries also supply weapons to Ukraine, but they are not belligerent countries. 

"Putin has an interest in a disunited Europe to impose his will. After February 24, no matter how late it is, we must stand on the side of Ukraine and not scare people", Ivanov added. 

Regarding the formation of a government, the president pointed out that in the last elections the Bulgarian citizens gave a vote in which no party could govern alone. Arithmetic shows that no less than 3 parties are needed to form a government. In order for it to be stable, the creation of a coalition with priorities and structure is required to assure the Bulgarian citizens that this is not an unprincipled gathering of parties, Ivanov said.

The President indicated that he would not rush to hand over the mandates to form a government. "I will not schedule elections in January and February. We can only imagine what this will lead to, and the risk of even lower voter turnout is real. So the third term will be handed over after the new year, so that there will be elections in the month of March," stressed Radev.



Последвайте ни и в Google News Showcase, за да научите най-важното от деня!
Listen to the daily news from Bulgaria presented in "Bulgaria Today" podcast, available in Spotify.

More from category

Sunny but chilly Sunday

Overnight it will be mostly clear. Winds will weaken and die down in many areas. In the morning it will be cold, with minimum temperatures between minus 7 and minus 2°C, reaching minus 10°C in the valleys and around minus 9°C in Sofia. Tomorrow will be..

published on 11/23/24 7:05 PM

Unit 6 of Kozloduy NPP connected to the national grid after annual maintenance

The planned annual maintenance of Unit 6 of Bulgaria's only NPP, Kozloduy, has been completed. The unit was connected to the national grid at 10:07 following an inspection by the Nuclear Regulatory Agency. In addition to the repairs made to improve..

published on 11/23/24 2:09 PM
Interim minister of the Interior Atanas Ilkov

Bulgaria's full Schengen membership will not open the floodgates to the EU, says Interior Minister

A quadripartite meeting of the interior ministers of Bulgaria, Hungary, Austria and Romania in Budapest on 22 November made it clear that Austria would lift its veto and that Bulgaria and Romania would probably become full members of Schengen from the..

published on 11/23/24 11:58 AM