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Deputy Prime Minister Maria Gabriel
Photo: Valentina Petrova / AP
The government talks in Bulgaria have been broken off without success. "No to the constant new conditions," said the previous Deputy Prime Minister Maria Gabriel about the talks about a new cabinet. She had been tasked with forming a new government. Gabriel and the negotiating team of the pro-Western center-right alliance Gerb-SDS thus put an end to government talks with the previous, equally pro-Western liberal-conservative coalition partner PP-DB.
The previous pro-Western government of Prime Minister Nikolaj Denkow resigned as planned at the beginning of March. This is intended to enable a rotation of the office of Prime Minister agreed between the government partners in 2023. Gabriel would then become head of government and Denkow her deputy. According to media reports, both sides argued primarily about personal details.
Gabriel said she now wanted to withdraw her nomination for the office of prime minister, which was planned for Monday. There is now a threat of a sixth parliamentary election within three years in the southeastern EU country. However, before this is announced, two further government contracts awarded by Head of State Rumen Radev would have to fail.
Another parliamentary election could make Bulgaria's planned introduction of the euro on January 1, 2025 more difficult, experts warn. Bulgaria is due to join the Schengen area on March 31st without any personal controls - but for now only with its air and sea borders.
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