• Saturday, 29 June 2024

Bulgarian government on the verge of collapse

Bulgarian government on the verge of collapse
Sofia, 8 July 2022 (dpa/MIA) - Efforts to form a new government in Bulgaria are on the verge of failure, interim leader Kiril Petkov warned on Friday. The seven-day window to find the parliamentary majority necessary to establish a new government will expire at 5 pm local time (1500 GMT) on Friday. "I think the assignment [of forming a government] will be handed back," Petkov told national radio. Petkov's pro-western PP party was assigned the task of forming a new government after the collapse of its old coalition. However, the PP has so far been unable to secure the support of at least 121 of the 240 members of the Bulgarian parliament. The PP itself only has 67 parliamentarians and is, therefore, reliant on coalition partners. Petkov's four-party-coalition lost its parliamentary majority in June after the populist ITN party, led by entertainer Slavi Trifonov, left the coalition.