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Overseas Business Risk – Bulgaria
Rumen Radev is the current Head of State. He won the November 2016 presidential election against the centre-right candidate with nearly 60% of the votes
Radev was previously Head of the Air Force and a former air force pilot before he resigned in order to run in the presidential elections on the ticket of the leftist Bulgarian Socialist Party; he is not though a member of any political party. Radev took office on 22 January 2017. The next presidential elections are due in November 2022. The President of Bulgaria is elected for a five-year term, with a two-term maximum. The President does not have executive functions.
Executive
The Prime Minister is head of the executive branch. The current Prime Minister is Boyko Borissov, leader of the centre-right party GERB. He heads a 20 Minister coalition Cabinet with the nationalist alliance United Patriots as a junior partner, who are officially in government for the first time. The Government is supported by 122 out of 240 MPs in Parliament. Its major priorities are ensuring the country’s border security, enhancing Bulgaria’s energy security, and continuing with judicial reform, while maintaining stringent fiscal discipline and the flat rate tax. Major foreign policy priorities are supporting the EU perspective of the Western Balkans, joining Schengen and the Eurozone. Next parliamentary elections are due in March 2021.