Bulgaria's current government was formed 52 days after the parliamentary elections on June 25 2005. Electoral results put the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) in the lead, followed by the National Movement Simeon II (NMSII) and the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF). None of the parties, however, drew enough support to form a Cabinet on its own.
Both the BSP and the NMSII failed at their first attempts to form a Cabinet. Finally, a coalition between the three leading parties had sufficient support in the National Assembly for the approval of the new Cabinet. The National Assembly approved the Prime Minister and Cabinet on August 16 2005.
The Cabinet consists of Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev and 17 ministers. Stanishev is the current leader of the BSP, elected after former leader Georgi Purvanov became President of Bulgaria in January 2002, which disbarred Purvanov from continuing as a political party leader.
Ministerial seats are distributed according to a ratio of 8:5:3, respectively for the BSP, the NMSII, and the MRF. Each coalition participant obtained key ministerial posts. The BSP received the ministries of interior, foreign affairs, regional development and economy, to name a few. The NMSII was given the ministries of justice, European integration, defence, state administration and education. The MRF has the ministries of disaster management, agriculture and environment.
Ministers from the outgoing Cabinet who stayed as ministers in the new one include Meglena Kouneva (who kept her European Integration portfolio until she was selected for European Commissioner for Consumer Protection), Nikolai Vassilev and Georgi Petkanov from the NMSII, as well as Nihat Kabil from the MRF. Vassilev and Petkanov moved to other ministries, while Kabil, who had been Agriculture Minister, became Agriculture and Forestry Minister.
The coalition partners decided that they would name a "consensus figure" as Finance Minister. They chose Plamen Oresharski, a former UDF member, who resigned from the UDF after internal strife within the party.
It was decided that agencies instead of ministries would be responsible for, respectively, tourism, communications, and sport. Tourism would have its own representative institution for the first time. With previous Cabinets, it fell variously under the ministries of finance and economy.
Prime Minister Stanishev said that his Government's top priority was accession to the EU on schedule. The political crisis and Cabinet formation delays after the parliamentary elections led a number of European observers to the conclusion that Bulgaria would not be able to carry out all the reforms needed for EU accession at the beginning of 2007.
The Cabinet showed its ability to work efficiently by achieving the rapid approval of a new Criminal Procedure Code. Bulgaria had to carry out major reforms, mainly in the judicial system, which thus far has been considered to slow and inefficient by EU specialist.
The BSP's electoral platform also promised improved economic and diplomatic relations with countries from the former Soviet Union.
Other priorities of the Government include continued economic reform, and the complete implementation of a market economy. A stable economy also implies that there will be a favourable administrative framework and a number of reforms of regulatory bodies.
The Cabinet plans to implement social policy changes. These include higher wages and pension relief. Stanishev said that the Cabinet would strive to increase employment, as well as the qualification and skills of the Bulgarian workforce.
The BSP also plans to carry out full agrarian reform and modernisation of production. A top priority is to be the development of Bulgarian science, culture and education programmes and projects.
In his first speech as Prime Minister, Stanishev that the necessity for fast political, administrative and economic reforms meant that it was imperative that there be dialogue and co-operation among the various political parties. The BSP had shown its openness to negotiations through its coalition government with parties of different ideologies, he said.
