Timeline of Oresharski's Cabinet: A Government in Constant Jeopardy

Bulgaria's Prime Minister Plamen Oresharski submitted a long-expected request to stand down on July 23, 2014 after weeks of uncertainty as to when he could take the step.

Even though developments around the South Stream gas pipeline and two of Bulgaria's major banks, attacked by a wave of rumors, deepened a crisis in governance and legitimacy, the road to a political impasse was triggered by events dating back to last summer, when a socialist-liberal government was formed to oppose center-right GERB, the party ranking first at the May 2012 early elections.

Here is a short selection of the developments which prompted a state of expectation that the cabinet is likely to step down.

May 23, 2013 - Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev handed to BSP-led Coalition for Bulgaria the mandate to forge a government. Prime Minister Plamen Oresharski was a Prime Minister candidate at that time. The BSP later struck an unwritten agreement with liberal Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS) that the two parties were to take part in a cabinet, with the DPS becoming a junior partner.

May 27, 2013 - Plamen Oresharski introduced experts to become part of what had been described as a "program cabinet".

May 29, 2013 - MPs approved Oresharski's candidacy. Among his main promises were that his government would tackle unemployment, would be more open to media and would avoid dibious appointments.

June 14, 2013 - Parliament's decision to appoint controversial MP Delyan Peevski as head of the national security agency DANS, taken upon a government proposal, triggered huge-scale protests across Bulgaria that grew (though only in the capital...