Bulgarian President Summons Security Council amid Political Crisis

Bulgaria's Consultative Crisis on National security is convening Tuesday, with its sitting expected to be focused on the ongoing political turmoil in the country.

As President Rosen Plevneliev noted Monday, the sitting's aim will be to guarantee safety and stability and working institutions despite the two-week long protest rallies shaking the country.

Plevneliev has pledged that Bulgaria will have a caretaker government by the end of next week, adding he already had a recovery plan for the political crisis.

The President spoke after outgoing Prime Minister, Boyko Borisov, turned down the presidential mandate given to his party Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (GERB) to form an interim Cabinet.

On Wednesday, the President is going to offer the mandate to the second largest group in the Parliament after GERB – the left-wing Bulgarian Socialist Party, BSP, as the Constitution postulates. On Thursday, he will address the MPs to provide "full clarity" on future developments; on Friday he will offer the mandate to the ethnic Turkish party Movement for Rights and Freedoms, DPS, in case the Socialists turn it down as well.

BSP and DPS have already declared plans to refuse forming an interim government.

Last week, Bulgaria's Parliament approved the resignation of the GERB government amidst unprecedented since 1997 protest rallies against unbearable utility bills and wide-spread poverty that turned into a civil unrest against the political model of ruling the country.