President Radev held consultations on a caretaker prime minister

President Rumen Radev spoke with Ombudsman Diana Kovacheva as part of the consultations on a caretaker prime minister.

After the meeting Kovacheva told the media that she could not take up the post because she had been elected as a judge at the European Court of Human Rights. Kovacheva said that her swearing-in was due shortly and that she would soon submit her resignation to Parliament.

Bulgaria’s National Bank (BNB) Deputy Governor Petar Chobanov said that the consultations with the head of state and the potential candidates for caretaker prime minister were at a stage where there was no immediate solution.

Chobanov described the talks with the head of state as helpful and informative, but pointed out that the BNB should keep its distance from politics, a position shared by the institution's head, Dimitar Radev. Asked whether he would give up his position at the BNB for the sake of the national interest, Chobanov pointed out that he expected President Rumen Radev to find a solution to the situation. "I believe he will," Chobanov added.

After Chobanov, during a meeting with the Bulgarian head of state, another Deputy Governor of the Bulgarian National Bank Radoslav Milenkov stated he was a banker, not a politician and made mention of the position of BNB Governor Dimitar Radev about the place of the BNB within the national and international framework.

The third BNB Deputy Governor Andrey Gyurov, who also had a meeting with President Radev as a potential candidate for caretaker PM, refused to give a specific answer to the question whether he would be willing to assume this commitment. Andrey Gyurov added that during their meeting with Rumen Radev, they had discussed the role and the tasks of the Bulgarian National Bank in the process of accession to the Eurozone.