Bulgaria edged closer to new elections after ‘We Continue the Change’ co-leaders Assen Vassilev and Kiril Petkov failed to assemble a majority in parliament following last month’s no-confidence vote

Bulgaria Risks More Instability as New Coalition Talks Fail

Bulgarian Prime Minister Kiril Petkov arrives for the European Council Summit in Brussels, Belgium, 24 March 2022. Photo: EPA-EFE/JULIEN WARNAND

Outgoing Prime Minister Kiril Petkov confirmed on Friday that his “We Continue the Change” party will return its new mandate to form a government, after talks on a new coalition failed.

“We can’t find 121 MPs who are not afraid”, Petkov told the media, referring to the number needed for a majority in parliament, and the influence that criminal structures allegedly have on parliament.

The party, which came first in last November’s elections, was given a fresh mandate by President Rumen Radev after Petkov’s cabinet was ousted on June 22 in a no-confidence vote.

The move was initiated after the government lost its majority. On June 8, “There’s Such a People” leader Slavi Trifonov announced the sudden exit of his party from the ruling coalition, citing distrust in Petkov on a number of issues.

These included his alleged plans to lift Bulgaria’s blockade on the start of North Macedonia’s EU membership talks. Several members left the “There’s Such a People” party, citing its alleged ties with the criminal world, and unclear politics.

In turn, Petkov said that “There’s Such a People’s” role in the coalition was only to pretend to be reformist, while actually trying to keep going a corrupt scheme of state funds going to illegal firms working in infrastructure.

According to Petkov and his Deputy, Assen Vassilev, this was a legacy of corruption dating from the time of former PM Borissov and his GERB party. 

Bulgaria will go likely to new elections in late-September. An interim cabinet, selected by President Radev, who became increasingly hostile to Petkov’s reformist government since the beginning of the Russian invasion in Ukraine and was skeptical of Bulgaria’s row with Russia’s Gazprom, will govern until then. 

At an upcoming meeting with the President later on Friday, “We Continue the Change” will be represented by outgoing Deputy PM and co-leader Assen Vassilev, who this time was the projected PM; Petkov stepped down after potential coalition partners in the Bulgarian Socialist Party and “There’s Such a People” said that they would not enter talks if Petkov is still leading the cabinet.

The pro-Kremlin Socialists severed ties with Petkov sfter he expelled 70 Russian diplomats for alleged espionage.

Also on Friday, Petkov and Greek PM Kyriákos Mitsotákis announced the completion of the gas interconnector between the two countries, starting near the Greek town of Komotini. The interconnector will supply gas from Azerbaijan.

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