Ministry of Finance

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis chose to visit the Finance Ministry on Wednesday for his first official visit since his re-election. He was met at the ministry by new Finance Minister Kostis Hatzidakis. The prime minister was accompanied by Minister of State Akis Skertsos and his economic advisor Alex Patelis.

With the new cabinet of Kyriakos Mitsotakis expected to be announced on Monday afternoon, sources have said that the frontrunners for the post of Foreign and Finance Ministries are Giorgos Gerapetritis and Kostis Hatzidakis, respectively. 

Former Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis and head of leftist party MeRA25 Yanis Varoufakis expressed his hope for the return of his party to parliament on Sunday, after it failed to exceed the 3% threshold on May 21.

In the regular budget for this year, there will be a serious increase in funds for the municipalities by nearly 25 percent. Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov assured this during the forum of the National Association of Municipalities in Pamporovo.
According to him, the draft budget must be adopted by the parliament by the end of July and enter into force on August 1.

The new cabinet will be officially sworn in before President Katerina Sakellaropoulou and the newly-appointed caretaker Prime Minister Ioannis Sarmas at 12 p.m. on Friday. 

After the swearing-in ceremony, Sarmas will preside over a cabinet meeting at the Maximos Mansion.

If after June 10 there is no adopted budget for the year or a new extension of last year's budget, the state will only be able to spend as much as it collects. This becomes clear in the response of the Bulgarian Ministry of Finance after a question from the National Radio whether, in the worst case scenario, there will be funds for pensions and salaries in the public sector.

The "Erdoganization and Orbanization of Greece is now complete," former finance minister Yanis Varoufakis said, in his first reaction to the election results that saw his MeRA25 party limp in 8th place and lose its presence in parliament.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis unveiled on Friday New Democracy's (ND) country-wide list for the upcoming elections on May 21 that includes eight women and seven men.

It poses risks to the country that the leadership and top officials of main opposition SYRIZA leave open - even if indirectly - the possibility of cooperation with the leader of the MeRA25 party and former SYRIZA finance minister Yanis Varoufakis.

Today at noon, the consultations on the budget started in the format of working groups between GERB-SDS and "We Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria". In the early afternoon, talks continued at the Ministry of Finance.