Bulgaria's Interim Govt Won't Nominate EU Commissioner

The caretaker government of Bulgaria will not engage in a nomination of a European Commissioner before the election, Prime Minister Ognyan Gerdzhikov has said.

At a briefing, he has made it clear he does not rule out a situation in which his cabinet has to remain in office for a longer time after the vote due on March 26.

The lack of electronic voting in the election may give some parties a good ground to contest the election and demand a repeat vote, Gerdzhikov has argued.

Earlier, he suggested he was planning to remain in office until not later than April 27.

Bulgaria will not enable machine voting for the upcoming election even though it is enshrined as an option in the electoral code.

The reason is that the country failed to procure 13 000 voting machines.

"We can keep on for 25 more days without having an EU Commissioner, but from then on, if there is no positive result of the election, then our government will nominate one," he has noted.

Bulgaria has not had an EU Commissioner since the beginning of January, when then Commission Vice President Kristalina Georgieva left the office to take over a CEO job at the World Bank.

Public radio BNR quotes Gerdzhikov as saying one should not exclude the option that political parties fail to forge a cabinet after the vote.

"That notwithstanding, we will continue to carry out our obligations unless President [Rumen] Radev decides to appoint a new interim cabinet.

Gerdzhikov's words coincide with statements of Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz, whom local media quote as saying the number of Commissioners should be cut in half and the college should operate on a rotating basis, instead the current regime of each country having an own commissioner.