Both President and caretaker PM to represent Bulgaria at Nato Summit in DC

Both caretaker Prime Minister Dimitar Glavchev and President Roumen Radev will participate in the Nato Summit to be held in Washington DC from July 9 to 11, the Bulgarian government press service said on June 21.

Glavchev, whose political background is with Boiko Borissov’s GERB-UDF, has pledged that the caretaker administration of which he has stewardship will continue the pro-Nato, pro-Ukraine policies of its predecessor, the Nikolai Denkov cabinet.

Radev has said that “Crimea is Russian” and since the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine by Russia, has opposed military aid for Ukraine and called for a “diplomatic solution” towards “peace”.

On June 20, the eve of the deadline to notify Nato who would represent Bulgaria, Glavchev took the unusual step to asking the newly-constituted National Assembly to decide who should go to the summit.

This in spite of the fact that conventionally such decisions are made by the executive, not the legislature. Further, in the past, convention was that the head of government attends European Council meetings and the head of state – who is also commander-in-chief of the armed forces – attends Nato summits.

On June 21, a meeting of the Speaker’s council failed to agree on a decision.

Within the groups that are “Euro-Atlantic”, Borissov indicated that Radev should go, citing the convention, with the Movement for Rights and Freedoms and the We Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria coalition wanted Glavchev to attend.

MRF parliamentary leader Delyan Peevski said that Radev should not be given the chance to spread Russian propaganda at the Nato Summit.

Pro-Russian party Vuzrazhdane and the Bulgarian Socialist Party wanted Radev to attend the summit.

The June 21 statement by the Bulgarian government said that the Washington DC summit “is the highest decision-making level in the Alliance and will mark the 75th anniversary of the North Atlantic Treaty signed in Washington, US”.

“The decisions to be taken at the meeting in Washington presuppose the implementation of long-term commitments by the Allies, with particular emphasis on investments in the defence of each Nato member country and long-term support for Ukraine and financial provision for it,” the statement said.