Bulgarian parties have agreed that the prime ministers will rule in turn

To overcome the protracted political crisis, the leading Bulgarian parties have agreed that their representatives will head the governmentaccording to the principle of rotation and in nine months Nikolay Denkov will be replaced by Maria GabrielTandem in BulgarianTandem in BulgarianTandem in BulgarianTandem in BulgarianTandem in Bulgarian

Following the results of the fifth parliamentary elections in two years, the ruling bloc in Bulgaria will be formed by parties that previously ruled out the possibility of cooperation - the coalition of the Citizens for the European Development of Bulgaria party and the Union of Democratic Forces (GERB - SDS) and the bloc of coalitions "Continue Changes" and "Democratic Bulgaria "(PP - DB). In the April 2 elections, GERB-SDS won 69 out of 240 seats in the National Assembly, PP-DB - 64 seats.

Immediately after the elections, the co-chairman of "Continue Changes" Asen Vasilev said that the national council of the party ruled out the possibility of supporting the cabinet, which would include representatives of GERB. In early May, GERB leader Boyko Borisov, who headed the government from 2009 to 2021 with minor interruptions, warned of the threat of new, sixth early elections. “We are all moving towards the abyss of the next election,” Borisov was quoted as saying by Balkan Insight. He called the position of the PP-SB regarding cooperation with GERB "arrogant and irresponsible."

In order to avoid early elections and finally start solving internal problems, on May 22, representatives of the GERB-SDS and PP-DB announced a political agreement. It is designed for at least a year and a half and assumes that for the first nine months the representative of the PP - DB Nikolai Denkov will be the prime minister, and for the next nine months - Maria Gabriel from GERB. During Denkov's premiership, she will have the post of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs. “PP-DB will propose a government that will be able to carry out constitutional reform, fulfill all the requirements related to the full membership of the country in the EU, [and] carry out a comprehensive judicial reform,” Denkov said on Monday (cited by Politico). The party did not comment on its decision in detail on Monday, which caused a flurry of criticism.

What is known about future premieres

Nikolai Denkov, 60, a member of the Continue Changes party, served twice as the country's Minister of Education, most recently from May 2021 to August 2022. He is a Doctor of Chemical Sciences, a member of the National Academy of Sciences.

Maria Gabriel, 44, from the GERB party, has been working in Brussels in recent years. From 2017 to 2019, she was European Commissioner for the Digital Economy, from 2019 to May 15 this year, she was European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth. She resigned, having received a mandate from the President of Bulgaria to form a national government.

“It must be clearly recognized that the promise not to have a single person associated with GERB in the future cabinet <...> has not been fulfilled. If this has made our friends and voters feel bad, I apologize!” - wrote the co-chairman of the PP, former Prime Minister Kirill Petkov in social networks on May 23. As Petkov clarified, his party continues to distrust GERB, which is why a scheme with a rotating chairmanship was used.

In order for the government to be formed, the mandate for its formation must be issued by President Rumen Radev. On May 22, he announced that he would hand it over to the representative of the PP-DB in the near future. He urged politicians not to delay any longer with negotiations and approval of the composition of the cabinet in the People's Assembly.

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The rotational scheme of government work has been used in Israel in the past. In 2021, eight parties signed a coalition agreement there, and the leaders of the two largest - Yair Lapid and Naftali Bennet - were to rule for two years each. However, a year later the coalition collapsed and new elections were announced.

One and a half year plan

“18 months is the minimum time for the Schengen area, the eurozone, to work on a recovery plan and unblock all infrastructure projects that must be implemented if we want to be on the path to creating a normal European country,” Petkov explained the tasks facing the cabinet on Tuesday. According to him, Gabriel is able to significantly help the country in achieving these goals. “She has undeniable qualities and competence in Brussels <...>. For the Eurozone and the Schengen to not remain just words, someone needs to put them into practice in Europe,” he added.

Bulgaria has been a member of the European Union since 2007, but its entry into the Schengen area (now there are 27 states between which border controls have been removed) has been postponed several times. The latest hurdle has been a veto by the Netherlands, which last year demanded compliance with anti-corruption conditions as well as judicial reform. As Bulgarian Foreign Minister Nikolai Milkov said in March, it is possible to withdraw Amsterdam's claims by October. “When I say October, this is not a target date, because it depends not only on us, but this is the deadline by which we could fulfill the requirements so that we can be part of the Schengen zone,” Milkov specified.

Bulgaria has also been striving for the euro zone for several years. In February, Sofia admitted that she would not be able to introduce the euro into circulation on January 1, 2024, as planned three years ago. This deadline has now been moved to January 1, 2025. However, before that, the country must still be assessed by eurozone regulators.

Parliament and the new government will also have to approve the country's budget for this year and pass the laws necessary to receive financial assistance from a special EU fund created to overcome the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic .