Bulgaria's Borissov to Head New Coalition Govt

GERB and the United Patriots, a coalition that brings together three nationalist parties, the National Front for Salvation of Bulgaria, VMRO and ATAKA, agreed on Tuesday to form a coalition government with a four-year mandate and Boyko Borissov as prime minister.

The agreement was announced after a first round of negotiations for a new cabinet was held in parliament.

"The government will have a clear mandate of four years. There is no dispute about who will be the prime minister," GERB's Delyan Dobrev, who is part of his party's negotiating team, told journalists after the meeting.

Dobrev made it clear that no final agreement has been reached yet and the next round of talks will be held later this week.

GERB, which won the snap parliamentary vote on March 26 winning 33.4 per cent of the vote, and the United Patriots, who came third with 9.3 per cent, have 122 MPs in total, enough to form a majority in Bulgaria's 240-seat parliament.

Borissov on Tuesday dismissed the option of forming a broad coalition government together with the nationalists and the Bulgarian Socialist Party, BSP, which came second in the vote with 27.9 per cent.

He expressed satisfaction with the agreement with the nationalists.

"I am happy because my colleagues from the United Patriots are very responsible," he said, Dnevnik reported.

He also told journalists that GERB's only condition was the nationalists become part of the cabinet, unlike the last coalition between GERB and the Reformist Bloc, which was only an official supporter of the administration without having ministers. 

He said he did not want GERB to "take on the whole burden for the whole state" as it had before.

Borissov added that GERB would also expect support from the...