Radev: If no government is formed, there will be new elections in March at the earliest

The consultations under President Rumen Radev with the parties represented in the parliament to form a government turned into a dispute over the rearming of the Bulgarian army during the meeting between the president and the "Democratic Bulgaria" coalition.

The president criticized the thesis that Bulgaria should provide its old Soviet weaponry to Ukraine in order to receive older NATO systems from its allies in return.

The co-chairman of "Democratic Bulgaria" Hristo Ivanov replied that the problem with the delayed modernization of the army was systemic. The politician emphasized that the president speculated that if Sofia gave weapons to Ukraine, it would enter as a country in the war, because other Western countries also supply weapons to Ukraine, but they are not belligerent countries.

"Putin has an interest in a disunited Europe to impose his will. After February 24, no matter how late it is, we must stand on the side of Ukraine and not scare people", Ivanov added.

Regarding the formation of a government, the president pointed out that in the last elections the Bulgarian citizens gave a vote in which no party could govern alone. Arithmetic shows that no less than 3 parties are needed to form a government. In order for it to be stable, the creation of a coalition with priorities and structure is required to assure the Bulgarian citizens that this is not an unprincipled gathering of parties, Ivanov said.

The President indicated that he would not rush to hand over the mandates to form a government. "I will not schedule elections in January and February. We can only imagine what this will lead to, and the risk of even lower voter turnout is real. So the third term will be handed over after the new year, so that there will be elections in the month of March," stressed Radev. /BGNES