Bulgaria: compromise for new government ends stalemate
In Bulgaria, the two biggest parties have agreed on a coalition government. A key element of the deal is that the post of prime minister will rotate after nine months. Nikolay Denkov of the liberal-conservative PP-DB bloc will take the post for the first nine months, followed by former EU Commissioner Marija Gabriel of the centre-right alliance Gerb-SDS for the next.
Back into the Euro-Atlantic orbit
The blockade could now finally come to an end, Club Z rejoices:
“This de facto grand coalition between the two major political parties could achieve much more than any other government constellation in this parliament. The country could be stabilised with one government and a parliamentary majority, the budget for 2023 could be passed, and the EU funds under the stimulus and sustainability package could be released once more. We could finally join the Schengen Area and the Eurozone and return to a safe Euro-Atlantic orbit.”
Borisov over a barrel
Ex-Prime Minister Borisov will have to swallow this bitter pill, comments columnist Ivaylo Dichev on Deutsche Welle’s Bulgarian service:
“I think it is appropriate to congratulate Mr Borisov on the very difficult compromise he has agreed to, or possibly been forced into. ... He probably already regrets the courageous step he took in nominating Ms Gabriel. He has inadvertently placed himself between two fronts — on the one hand, the [conservative EU Parliament group] EPP, which, as far as I know, is fiercely wooing its bride Gabriel, and on the other hand his own Gerb party, where she is rather unpopular. I don’t see him as a cunning Machiavelli on a white horse, who still pulls all the strings, but as a confused, cornered, frightened man who has realised that his time is up.”
