Asen Vassilev

The Bulgarian National Assembly continued its efforts to elect a Speaker, but for the fourth consecutive time, no candidate managed to secure the necessary support. In today's first voting session, the stalemate persisted.

"We Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria" (WCC-DB) announced their decision to support "There Is Such a People" (TISP)'s proposal to temporarily appoint the oldest member of parliament, Silvi Kirilov, as Speaker of the Bulgarian Parliament. The coalition leaders stated they would withdraw their candidate, Andrey Tsekov, and called on other political formations to do the same.

The 50th National Assembly of Bulgaria concluded its final session in a chaotic atmosphere, marked by physical confrontations and a failure to secure a quorum. Political groups "Revival" (Vazrazhdane) and "There Is Such a People" (TISP) blocked parliamentary proceedings, aiming to halt amendments related to the Recovery and Resilience Plan and the Maritsa Iztok power plant.

The Bulgarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) responded after an interview with North Macedonia's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Transport, Aleksandar Nikoloski, who criticized Bulgaria for the absence of the flag of North Macedonia at an informal meeting between Presidents Rumen Radev and Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova.

Two of the candidates from the president's "home list" have agreed to serve as the next acting Prime Minister. This follows meetings with President Rumen Radev, who is still deliberating on the final decision. The two individuals are current acting Prime Minister Dimitar Glavchev and Petar Chobanov, the Deputy Governor of the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB).

The Budget Committee has approved both bills submitted by the Council of Ministers for the introduction of the euro and the Law on Credit Institutions. To address the unstable political situation and the risk of early elections, the committee decided to grant a mandate to the Ministry of Finance.

"We Continue the Change" (WCC) has convened its National Council to deliberate on whether to accept the proposal from "Democratic Bulgaria" to jointly attempt to form a government with the second mandate.

The Bulgarian Parliament has rejected Rosen Zhelyazkov's nomination for Prime Minister after more than three hours of debate. The proposed GERB government, with Zhelyazkov at the helm, was turned down.

Today marks the second day of the inaugural session of the 50th National Assembly, after failing to elect a speaker yesterday. Raya Nazaryan's candidacy garnered support from GERB, DPS, and Hristo Prodanov of BSP, totaling 116 votes initially. However, Prodanov voted "against" in the second round.

In their first statement to the media following the swearing-in of the new parliament, "We Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria" (WCC-DB) reiterated their refusal to join a future governing majority despite urgent requests from GERB and DPS. The coalition emphasized their commitment to being a clear pro-European opposition focused on exposing corruption and irregularities.