May 29 (SeeNews) -
Bulgarian president Rumen Radev on Monday handed Nikolay Denkov, the prime minister-designate of the coalition We Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria (WCC-DB), a mandate to form a government.
"Bulgaria needs a stable government, which can help address the problems of the people and decisively advance the country on a European path. But Bulgaria also needs a stable parliament, with the most pressing issue being the adoption of a new budget," Denkov said. "Work awaits us on legislative changes to combat corruption, changes to the penal code, including relating to road accidents, and perhaps even changes to the Constitution which would strengthen the judicial system," Denkov also said.
He added that in the coming days, WCC-DB will hold talks with the other political formations in parliament to try and put together a regular cabinet which could fulfil the goals set out in the coalition's programme.
Last week former Bulgarian EU commissioner Mariya Gabriel, the nominee for prime minister of the centre-right GERB-UDF coalition, returned unfulfilled the first exploratory mandate following an agreement between GERB-UDF and WCC-DB to put together a rotational government. The talks between the two formations, however, were halted after a recording of a meeting of the WCC leadership was leaked.
GERB-UDF holds 69 seats in the 240-seat National Assembly after winning 26.51% of the vote in the April snap election. The WCC-DB coalition has 64 MPs. For a proposed cabinet to be voted through parliament, it needs to secure the support of 121 MPs.