Bulgarian President Rumen Radev withdrew his confidence in the government on Tuesday, taking the symbolic action as a conflict with the conservative-nationalist government deepened over water shortages.
In a statement published on his website, Radev explained that his decision owed itself to “an acute crisis in government at all levels’’.
The move has no constitutional effect.
In a televised public address, Radev said the government was failing to act in citizens’ interests and showing no inclination to carry out reforms and address corruption.
He pointed to Pernik, a town south of Sofia, where residents have suffered from water shortages allegedly because of the mismanagement of reservoirs supplying a hydropower plant.
Radev also mentioned the revelation that Bulgaria imported hazardous waste from Italy to burn in thermal plants, polluting the air.
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The president is considered close to the opposition Socialist Party, which called a no-confidence vote over the issue. The government, in place since May 2017, comfortably survived.
Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov accused the president of interfering in the separation of powers and of trying to distract people from his difficulties with the public prosecutor.
Former president Rossen Plevneliev suggested there was a connection between the current, pro-Russian president’s accusation, and the attempts by the government to further Bulgaria’s attempts to join the euro.
He told a state-run radio station, “now there’s a war on the government to stop it from joining the eurozone.’’
dpa/NAN
