The “Radev Cabinet” marks 100 days in government

The government of former Bulgarian President Rumen Radev, backed by the “Progressive Bulgaria” party, which won an outright majority in the latest parliamentary elections, has marked 100 days in office.

Among the government’s achievements so far is the adoption of a regular budget with a deficit of 5.7%, which was challenged before the Constitutional Court and triggered an EU excessive-deficit procedure. The freezing of social payments and a 30% increase in road-vignette fees have also been listed among the cabinet’s decisions.

The contract with the gas company “BOTAŞ,” under which Bulgaria was paying $500,000 a day, was suspended for 15 months, although the opposition suspected undisclosed arrangements with Turkey. Bulgaria also received €896 million under the Recovery and Resilience Plan, while the government authorized the deployment of U.S. military aircraft at Bulgaria's Bezmer Air Base, despite having previously criticized the presence of such aircraft at Sofia Airport.

In foreign policy, there were differences between the prime minister and the minister responsible for the portfolio. While Rumen Radev advocated changing the European approach to the war in Ukraine, Velislava Petrova-Chamova signed a declaration supporting more active participation in the “Coalition of the Willing.”

It was only last week that the government adopted its governing program, which calls for constitutional changes to carry out the judicial reform promised on the day the cabinet took the oath, BNR reporter Maria Fileva summarizes.

“We are consistently fulfilling our campaign promises through clear and concrete steps. We managed to accomplish the first point - eliminating this oligarchy from political power. Second, we are cutting off their access to public resources, and in this respect we have already taken significant steps,” the prime minister said in response to opposition criticism that he was failing to deliver on his campaign promises.

Edited by E. Karkalanova
English: R. Petkova