Bulgaria President Faces Struggle to Form Govt

As the parties in Bulgaria's parliament struggle in vain to form a new government, President Rosen Plevneliev may face the task of having to appoint a third caretaker government in his five-year-mandate.

Plevneliev's task could be far more complicated this time, however, as his mandate is about to expire. He is due to hand over office to President-elect Rumen Radev on January 22.

Members of the President's office told BIRN that the name of the next prime minister and his interim ministers remain unclear because possible candidates willing to undertake such a short-term job are few.

They suggested Plevneliev may have to appoint members of his own team of secretaries and counsellors to an interim cabinet under Rosen Kozhuharov, Plevneliev's current secretary general.

The name of Elena Poptodorova, a respected diplomat and former ambassador to the United States has been mentioned as a possible prime minister. However, she told Nova TV last Saturday that she would not take the job on.

Iliyana Tsanova, a deputy prime minister in two interim governments in 2014 and 2015, has also dismissed the option of taking the prime minister's post.

She wrote on Facebook in November that her new post in the European Fund for Strategic Investments, EFSI, did not allow her to join a new cabinet.

President-elect Radev will also likely want to appoint an interim government run by a team that he prefers, which means the upcoming one could last no more than around a month.

Korneliya Ninova, leader of the Bulgarian Socialist Party, BSP, urged Plevneliev to speed up the constitutional procedure for setting up a caretaker government to replace Boyko Borissov's government, which has quit.

Bulgaria was plunged into crisis on November 14,...