SOFIA (Bulgaria), August 5 (SeeNews) – Bulgarian president Rosen Plevneliev will appoint on Wednesday a caretaker government headed by Georgi Bliznashki following the resignation last month of the country's Socialist-led cabinet of prime minister Plamen Oresharski, the head of state said in a live radio broadcast on Tuesday.
The cabinet will run the country until the snap elections scheduled for October 5, Plevneliev said in an address broadcast by the state-run Bulgarian National Radio.
In June, the political parties in the Bulgarian parliament agreed to hold early general elections after the results from the May ballot for members of the European Parliament reshuffled the local political landscape. The Oresharski cabinet submitted its resignation with parliament on July 23.
“A caretaker government, besides being a necessity, is also an opportunity for Bulgaria. An opportunity significant steps to be taken and important state priorities to be realized,” Plevneliev said.
“Such [priorities] as the signing of a partnership agreement with the European Commission for the period 2014-2020, and the launch of a procedure for entering the Single Supervisory Mechanism of the EU as a first step towards entry into the European Banking Union [..],” he added.
According to Plevneliev, the caretaker government will prepare a revision of the state budget and submit it to the country's next parliament.
The caretaker government will also nominate Kristalina Georgieva as the Bulgarian candidate for European commissioner. Currently Georgieva is serving as European commissioner for international cooperation, humanitarian aid and crisis response.
The South Stream gas pipeline project will remain frozen until the European Commission greenlights its implementation, Plevneliev added.
The future of the Gazprom-spearheaded South Stream gas pipeline - set to traverse several EU member states, including Bulgaria, is uncertain as the European Commission has said it runs counter to EU law. In June, the Bulgarian government halted the construction of the pipeline on the country's territory until the project is aligned to EU law.
Following is the lineup of Bulgaria's caretaker government:
Prime minister - Georgi Bliznashki
Deputy prime minister and minister of justice – Hristo Ivanov
Deputy prime minister and regional development minister - Ekaterina Zaharieva
Deputy prime minister and labour and social affairs minister – Yordan Hristoskov
Deputy prime minister in charge of EU funds - Iliyana Tsanova
Ministers:
Interior minister – Yordan Bakalov
Finance minister – Rumen Porozhanov
Economy, energy and tourism minister – Vasil Shtonov
Health minister – Miroslav Nenkov
Agriculture and foods minister – Vasil Grudev
Culture minister – Martin Ivanov
Education, youth and science minister – Rumiana Kolarova
Environment and waters minister – Svetlana Zhekova
Defence minister – Velizar Shalamanov
Foreign affairs minister – Daniel Mitov
Transport, information technologies and communications minister – Nikolina Angelkova
Physical education and sports minister – Evgeniya Radanova