The Bulgarian media reaction to the tripartite ruling coalition Government's reshuffle, announced on April 22 2008, can be described as moderate verging toward negative.
The best example of the latter is Trud daily. The newspaper concludes that only Prime Minister and leader of Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) Sergei Stanishev was satisfied with the changes that included the appointment of five new ministers.
Trud said that Simeon Saxe-Coburg and Ahmed Dogan, leaders of the other two ruling parties – the National Movement for Stability and Progress (NMSP) and the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) – were “dissatisfied after their meeting with Stanishev”.
According to Trud, Saxe-Coburg and Dogan expected more considerable changes than the ones agreed with Stanishev.
The lack of official reaction by the NMSP and the MRF added to the feeling. Both parties are expected to comment on the changes on April 24 when Parliament approves the appointments of the new ministers.
Trud quoted Sofia Mayor Boiko Borissov as saying that the changes were “useless”. The centre-right Bulgarian New Democracy group in Parliament called the Council of Ministers “a make-up room”.
The right-wing Union of Democratic Forces described them as “belated and proof of the ineptitude of the three-party coalition”.
The other right-wing party in opposition, Democrats for a Strong Bulgaria, asked for early general elections as the only way out of the crisis.
Ultra-nationalist Ataka leader Volen Siderov also supported the call for early elections and once again appealed to the opposition to boycott the sessions in Parliament.
Standart daily quoted Borissov as saying that the changes were merely cosmetic and had been forced by pressure of public opinion and the European Community.
The new ministers would not be able to do anything in the last year of the Government's term, he said.
Klassa daily quoted the opinion of two political analysts. According to Vassil Tonchev of Sova Haris, the cabinet shake-up was aimed at resolving the issue of the spending of EU funds spending and solving the problems within the Interior Ministry.
Antonii Galabov said that new Interior Minister Mihail Mikov was going to try and implement his own reform in the Ministry. The BSP was searching for strong personalities to overcome the crisis in confidence, he said.
The scandals have triggered only a modest cabinet reshuffle, Sega daily said. The paper noted that there will be five new ministers but none of them is committed to a substantial shift in priorities or the modus operandi in the separate ministries.
All of them pledged to continue the efforts of their predecessors, Sega stated.
Dnevnik daily reported that Mikov's predecessor Roumen Petkov was likely to become BSP's floor leader in Parliament.
European Commission spokesman Mark Gray also waded into the debate. Klassa quoted him as saying that the EC was hoping that the changes would lead to strengthened reforms in the fight against corruption and organised crime.
The matter of appointments and resignations was an internal issue for Bulgarian authorities but, nevertheless, the EC was considering the changes undertaken. The appointment of a deputy prime minister without portfolio to oversee spending of EU funds showed awareness and commitment on the part of the government of the need to ensure proper absorption of such resources, Gray said.
However, according to Alexander Bozhkov, co-chair of the Centre for Economic Development, the appointment of a deputy prime minister without portfolio in charge of controlling EU funds spending would not deliver results because the new deputy minister would simply serve as a mailbox between Bulgaria and the EC and nothing more.
The changes announced on April 22 are as follows:
Mihail Mikov, BSP’s floor leader in Parliament, will replace former interior minister Roumen Petkov
Bulgaria's current ambassador in Germany, Meglena Plougchieva, will be appointed deputy prime minister without portfolio. She will personally supervise and control the spending of European Union funds.
Defence Minister Vesselin Bliznakov, from the NMSP, will be replaced by Nikolai Tsonev, head of the Ministry's Social Activities Agency.
Health Minister Radoslav Gaidarski, from the BSP will be replaced by former Stara Zagora mayor Evgenii Zhelev, Dnevnik said.
Agriculture Minister Nihat Kabil will be replaced by Valeri Tsvetanov, a professor in agriculture studies.
In total, BSP will replace two of its representatives in the Cabinet – Petkov and Gaidarski. The NMSP will replace Bliznakov and the MRF will replace Nihat Kabil.
