Bulgaria Moves Closer to Ending Two Years of Political Instability

Bulgarian President Rumen Radev (R) receives a folder with the names of ministers from prime ministerial candidate Nikolay Denkov in Sofia on June 5. EPA-EFE/VASSIL DONEV

The move is likely to bring an end to two years of political turmoil which has seen five parliamentary elections held in Bulgaria.

The two blocs will take office with a cabinet that will govern for 18 months, led for the first nine months governed by We Continue the Change/Democratic Bulgaria with Nickolay Denkov as prime minister and for the second 9 months by GERB/United Democratic Forces, with Denkov resigning and Mariya Gabriel stepping in as premier.

"After five elections, we are trying to form a government so that we do the work: it's all about the numerous reforms and bills that the Ministerial Council has to draft out and bring to parliament after this big legislative delay," said Denkov, who was previously education minister in We Continue the Change's 2021-2022 coalition government.

The ministerial list of the Denkov-Gabriel cabinet includes We Continue the Change co-leader Assen Vassilev returning as minister of finance and Todor Tagarev, an outspoken military expert on Russian meddling in Bulgarian politics, as minister of defence. He previously held the same post in 2013.

Atanas Slavov from We Continue the Change/Democratic Bulgaria will head the Ministry of Justice, probably as a guarantee that judicial reform - a long-sought ambition of We Continue the Change and Democratic Bulgaria - will be carried out.

The unlikely union is beneficial for both sides. It is good news for veteran GERB leader and former premier Boyko Borissov, who in the last two years has not been able to capitalise on his election victories because GERB was isolated in...