Bulgaria parliament approves pro-European government, ending deadlock

Bulgarian lawmakers on Tuesday approved a new pro-European government put forward by We Continue the Change (PP) and the centre-right GERB party, ending a two-year-long impasse marked by five elections.

The new technocrat cabinet was elected without difficulty by Bulgaria’s 240-seat National Assembly, securing a majority of 132 votes.

Former education minister and researcher Nikolay Denkov of the PP-DB coalition will govern as prime minister for nine months, before EU ex-commissioner for innovation Mariya Gabriel will take over as part of a rotation. 

The graft-ridden Balkan nation has been struggling to elect a new government to implement badly needed reforms.

In May, Gabriel — tasked by the conservative GERB party to lead negotiations — alongside the PP-DB coalition announced a power-sharing government with rotating prime ministers.

Forty-four-year Gabriel, who recently resigned from her post in Brussels, will hold the Foreign Affairs portfolio under the leadership of 60-year-old Denkov, before taking over as prime minister in March 2024.

The European Union’s poorest country has been plagued by political instability and led by caretaker governments over the past two years.

A fifth vote in early April failed again to provide a clear majority.

Bulgaria has never before had a rotating premiership but the compromise was the only remaining option for a cabinet.

The new government’s priorities include the urgent passing of a budget, reforming the country’s justice system, and making progress on accession to the eurozone and Schengen area. 

Weakened by the turmoil, Bulgaria was forced to abandon its bid to join the eurozone in 2024 and was unable to accede to the Schengen free movement zone.

The cabinet will also usher in a new pro-European stance within the eastern European country amid Russia’s war in Ukraine.  

Under the leadership of pro-Russian President Rumen Radev, the country’s interim governments have refused to send direct military aid to Kyiv. 

The GERB party of three-time PM Boyko Borisov had governed almost uninterruptedly between 2009 and April 2021. 

But it lost many voters and became badly isolated by other parties after massive anti-corruption protests against it in 2020.