Bulgaria’s Parliament approves new government to end months of coalition talks
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Bulgarian Prime Minister-designate Rosen Zhelyazkov and his ministers take an oath after the new government was voted in the Parliament.
PHOTO: REUTERS
SOFIA - Bulgaria's Parliament approved on Jan 16 a Cabinet led by Mr Rosen Zhelyazkov, a former Parliament Speaker, ending months of negotiations on the formation of a coalition government.
The centre-right GERB party won a snap election in October 2024, the seventh held in the Balkan state in four years, but has had to hold tough talks with other political parties for more than two months in order to form a government.
Mr Zhelyazkov, proposed as prime minister-designate by the largest parliamentary GERB-SDS group, received a mandate from President Rumen Radev on Jan 15 to form a government.
Some 125 lawmakers at the 240-seat legislature approved Mr Zhelyazkov's proposed Cabinet in a vote on Jan 16, opening the way for a new government to take office.
Bulgaria, the poorest member of the European Union and one of its most corrupt states, has been plagued by revolving-door governments since anti-graft protests in 2020 unseated a GERB coalition.
The Nato member needs political stability to speed up the uptake of EU funds into its creaking infrastructure and nudge it towards adopting the euro.
"Bulgaria needs a regular government that will implement policies supporting the democratic rule of law, the competitiveness of the economy, security, and protecting citizens' social rights," Mr Zhelyazkov told the Parliament ahead of the vote.
Bulgaria's plans to join the euro zone have been pushed back twice because of missed inflation targets. Mr Zhelyazkov pledged on Jan 15 that his government will help the country make it into the single-currency bloc. REUTERS
