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Bulgaria’s parliament has approved a coalition government with a pro-Russia party, ending a political impasse in the Balkan country, which has not had a stable government since 2020.
Centre-right Prime Minister Rosen Zelyazhkov, who won a narrow majority with 125 votes in the 240-seat parliament, has vowed to maintain a pro-western track despite the uneasy arrangement, pledging to restore financial stability and refocus efforts to adopt the euro.
“The Euro-Atlantic agenda is among the main priorities,” a spokesperson told the Financial Times. “We would like to bring back stability in Bulgaria. Then the next priority is to join the Eurozone . . . as well as strengthening fiscal stability.”
Sofia has gone through a rapid succession of caretaker governments and shortlived minority administrations in the past three years, failing to elect a ruling majority in seven straight elections.
The centre-right Gerb party of former premier Boyko Borisov has remained the strongest but while it topped the polls in October it fell short of an overall majority. Borisov was pushed out of power in 2021 after massive anti-corruption protests.
“Bulgaria needs a normal government,” Zelyazhkov told parliament on Thursday. “Citizens and businesses need support.”
Bulgaria has struggled to complete anti-corruption, public procurement and energy reforms, leading to the suspension of EU post-pandemic recovery funds worth billions of euros.
The delay in EU funds, which must be spent by next year, is seen as a result of Sofia’s years-long inability to sustain a governing majority, which has also hindered its long-standing efforts to adopt the euro.
Zelyazhkov will head a minority cabinet of Gerb with the pro-Russia BSP and a populist group called There is Such a People. He secured the majority with the support of an ethnic Turkish party.
Borisov, who continues to chair Gerb, told journalists that coalition parties needed to bridge deep divisions and differences, and suggested he was still the best person to lead the country.
“A government with Prime Minister Borisov would be much stronger [but] I gave my strongest people so that the government would be strong,” he said.
Bulgaria will refocus on adopting the euro, Zelyazhkov told lawmakers, adding that the rule of law, sustainable public finances and improved social policies in healthcare and education would also be prioritised.
Daniel Smilov, a political scientist at the Centre for Liberal Strategies in Sofia, said the coalition would probably work for a year or two and possibly even adopt the euro.
Bulgaria has fulfilled the last criteria for membership, bringing its inflation within the bloc’s desired range, so now a positive assessment from the European Central Bank could be followed by setting a date — probably the start of next year.
“It’s a complex, uneasy and unattractive coalition but there is also an electoral fatigue, and the opposition is just as fragmented,” Smilov said.
