Bulgarian government bows out

Oresharski leaves successor with a difficult set of issues.

Plamen Oresharski will step down next week as Bulgaria’s prime minister, leaving a caretaker government to handle a full-blown banking-sector crisis, the aftermath of floods and an important nuclear-energy deal.

Oresharski, a technocrat who has been in power since May 2013, hopes to win parliamentary approval for an austere budget, adopted yesterday (16 July) by the left-of-centre coalition government, before he hands the reins of power over to a caretaker administration. Oresharski’s government has also been leading recovery efforts after deadly floods in June – the EU is providing some aid – and preparing an explanation for the European Commission of irregularities in the use of EU funding by 31 July.

President Rosen Plevneliev has yet to name a caretaker prime minister, but will, under the constitution, need to have a team in place by 5 August. The interim government will lead the country through to snap elections on 5 October. One option would be for Plevneliev to draw on some members of his own team.

Whoever takes over as premier will face the challenge of dealing with the fallout of a decision on Friday (11 July) by Bulgaria’s central bank to withdraw the licence of the country’s fourth-largest bank, Corpbank, after a run on its deposits in June. The decision was swiftly followed by an announcement on Monday (14 July) that Bulgaria now plans to join the EU’s banking union. Accession to the banking union would be a matter for the next full government.

The interim administration will also need to shepherd an agreement reached on 6 July to sell a stake in a state-owned nuclear firm to Japanese-owned Westinghouse, a deal that would end Bulgaria’s reliance on Russian nuclear fuel and technology. Bulgarian officials say the sales process will be completed after the elections.

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