site.btaPresident Rumen Radev: Bulgaria Must Have a Functioning Parliament and a Stable Regular Government

After his two-day visit to the United Arab Emirates, President Rumen Radev told journalists at Sofia Airport that the most important result of the upcoming October 2 snap elections will be a functioning parliament and a stable regular government, which will continue the policy of protecting Bulgarian citizens and businesses in crisis conditions, adopt the legal framework under the Recovery and Resilience Plan and work towards decisive reforms with a long-term horizon.

"I strongly hope that the parties have learned their lessons and in this campaign will not burn the bridges over which they will have to negotiate to form a government." The short life of the last parliaments and the last government are a clear indicator of how far drawing continuous red lines, negative campaigns and a refusal for dialogue can take us," Radev also said.

Regarding rising gas and fuel prices, the President commented that reducing them requires decisive action, giving as an example the gas price of BGN 353 per megawatt hour as of Thursday.

"This huge price spike is due to two LNG tankers contracted in July, which cost almost twice what business and consumers declared to be marginally acceptable. You can see that mixing in Azeri gas cannot moderate these shockingly high prices. The caretaker cabinet has to make a huge effort in these circumstances they inherited. The cabinet must work on all possible options to guarantee reliable supplies at affordable prices," said Radev.

"Gazprom is one option that has not yet been exhausted. It should be clear that Gazprom is not the only solution and not at any price. It is only a solution if good conditions are agreed upon, such as the price and rescheduling of deliveries," the head of State added.

Radev argued that, in the conditions of crisis, there should be no delay in drawing up and adopting the budget for the next year, therefore the caretaker government should do it, and, regardless its degree of readiness, hand it over to the next government and parliament.