/View.info/ Unlike his predecessors, this president steps confidently left, right and center
Despite refusing a paternity test of “We continue the change”, any (failure) of Kiril Petkov’s government will also be attributed to the head of state
Whether he wants it or not, it will also be a factor in the fate of the party that supports him twice: the first day of his second term coincides with the BSP congress, which will decide with or without Cornelia Ninova
For the first time, “Dondukov” 2 has a strong person who was not elected with the votes of the DPS, but today the movement has strong positions in Ankara and Brussels, which is important for foreign policy. And especially for the migrants along our border
Until Sunday, he was careful as a candidate for mined areas. From today, everyone will watch how the general acts in the covid crisis, the price of electricity, the galloping inflation
He has ruled the country since Easter and is expected to do so until Christmas. His caretaker government long ago left the established constitutional framework only to prepare the first and second extraordinary elections. And when he stops holding executive power, he will officially enter his second term as president.
Undoubtedly Rumen Radev is the strong man in Bulgaria today and
this burden will continue to grow
And if he shows that he has learned to balance, and not just demonstrate masterfully effective loops, he will probably continue to be the strongest in the next 5 years.
He is the second president to win a second term. But unlike the first – Georgi Parvanov, who knew how to communicate in classic political slang and place “Dondukov” 2 as an equidistant center in the party triangles, Radev shows no prejudice towards a stronger approach. In this sense, scientist (historian) vs. general is a plot not only from the last campaign. The fact is that Parvanov balanced, but did not leave the red frame. Radev feels confident when he steps left, right and centre.
The presidency has long been expected to present the draft changes to the constitution, announced more than a year ago. There were suspicions that the head of state would try some form of presidential republic, but the last year has shown that he doesn’t really even need an overhaul of the basic law. And this is the lesson for all presidents before him. At a certain moment, at the end of the mandate, each of them was asked the question whether the presidential republic is not the most suitable model for Bulgaria. They all coyly denied needing more power.
Radev II, without changing the constitution and without de jure having more powers, de facto will get more powers. First, in the new parliament, the president will count on serious support. Secondly, the expectations are that this time he will have a much more active role in the formation of the next cabinet, but now a regular one.
Here again, a parallel can be sought with Parvanov, who made efforts to guide the parties in constructing the triple coalition. But before that, the former leader of the BSP had the comfort of the polite tone with the NDSV under the tsar in his first term, and even with the GERB in the second.
With Radev, the exact opposite happened – for 5 years he worked in a situation of complete opposition, and finally opened a war with the executive power and Boyko Borisov. He entered the charts as the head of state who imposed the most vetoes per term.
Now, for the first time, he is in a position to speak on the same tone with the government. It will even set that tone as to what society expects.
Despite the debate over whether the fist divides or unites and what it symbolizes, this is exactly how Radev mobilized the energy in the squares last summer that brought about the change. By trial and error, both the president and the voters found the bearer of this change in the person of the new formation of Kiril Petkov and Asen Vasilev. After the apparent failure of his otherwise sympathetic Slavi Trifonov and Maya Manolova.
Radev continues to be adamant that if he creates a political project, he will stand at the head, and so
refuses to acknowledge the “paternity” of “Continuing the Change”
Petkov, on the other hand, as acting economic minister, persistently repeats that the president has never once called him to check or control him, nor has he interfered in his actions.
But no matter what the two say, every step of the unborn cabinet – good or bad, at least in the beginning – will be attributed to Radev. Starting from the drafting itself and reaching the necessary urgent actions on the budget, the health crisis, inflation, incomes. Moreover, it is quite possible that some of the ministers are people from Radev’s team – Petkov and Vasilev themselves, Academician Nikolay Denkov, maybe also Stefan Yanev and even Boyko Rashkov.
When asked by “24 Chasa” immediately after the election victory – presidential or parliamentary republic, Petkov and Vasilev were categorical: parliamentary. However, this does not mean that a procedure for changing the constitution and expanding the powers of the head of state will not be initiated, especially in the direction of giving legislative initiative and overcoming the veto.
Perhaps this step will be postponed until the new parliamentary players clarify the ideas of judicial reform and manage somewhere to intertwine their red lines for a new SJC, replacement of the chief prosecutor and the head of the KPCONPI.
But regardless of when, how and whether judicial and constitutional reform will be undertaken, after the victorious Radev enters his second term with (his own) regular government, the great test of the fight against corruption will await him. A theme that became the banner of the past election campaign for both president and parliament.
In fact, the raised fist was a symbol for that. Now the president will be seen as a guarantor not only that there will be no more of the same as with GERB, but that a visible change in the way the state functions will begin.
And the main promise of Petkov and Vassilev was zero corruption. It sounds good, but when you have a large and heavy administrative apparatus under you, the implementation may not be so easy. And every scandal, in addition to the government’s account, will also be written on the president’s account.
Two matches are coming up for Radev and on party ground. like it or not
during his second term, he will also be a factor in the internal processes of the BSP
Not simply because the first day of his second term coincides with the date for which the congress of socialists is planned.
The picture in the BSP can be seen from the photos that on the night of the run-off the entire internal opposition of Kornelia Ninova posted on social networks – they were there, in Radev’s headquarters, smiling and posing next to him.
The president received the votes of the socialists despite the criticism of Cornelia Ninova after her resignation before the second round. Ninova accused Radev of breaking the BSP by standing on the side of her opposition, which she “raises” together with her caretaker government, plus the “We continue the change” babbling. However, the numbers show that BSP sympathizers trusted Radev and did not listen to Ninova – according to sociologists, he was supported by 95% of the voting members of the red party.
In fact, the socialists were split on Radev throughout the campaign. He and Yotova toured the entire country, but not everywhere were the leaders of the BSP lists welcoming them. They closed their campaign before the first round in Ruse with Krum Zarkov, the main contender for the leadership post. For the second, they symbolically chose another city strongly opposed to Ninova – Plovdiv.
It is curious how another line in Radev’s relations will develop on the political field –
the war with DPS
After the scandal between the president and Mustafa Karadayi in the summer, when Radev asked the leader what his homeland was, the movement promised him not to enter “Dondukov” 2 again. They did not succeed.
The fact that he became the first head of state elected without the votes of the DPS adds touches to his portrait of the “strongest man in the state” now. However, DPS is the third force in the new parliament, for the first time in ideal relations with Ankara and on many issues of the same opinion with GERB. Together with Borisov’s MPs, they have the leverage to confront Radev with serious tests both domestically and geopolitically. Not only because it depends on Erdoğan’s favor not to add a refugee crisis to the others in the country, but also because the president himself has already made enough foreign policy blunders, led by the Crimea scandal.
The issue of Macedonia is even more explosive given the pressure from Brussels and Washington. This bomb must also be defused at the start of the second term. Radev could go down in history as the president under whom Sofia resolved its relations with Skopje. But it could also be that the raised fists are against him this time with accusations of national treason.
The dilemma faced by Radev II and the covid crisis is similar – either he will place our country among the rest of the European countries where life is free only with a vaccine, or he will choose not to bring the protesters against the measures to the streets.
But the re-elected must already know – the stronger you become, the more difficult the decisions become.
#Radev #strongest #balanced #longer #strongest
