Finally a regular cabinet: a strange GERB-led coalition

Rosen Zhelyazkov, the new PM

Finally a regular cabinet: a strange GERB-led coalition

TISP and BSP join forces with their nominal top nemesis and, with the help of Dogan’s MRF, push through an ordinary government

Rosen Zhelyazkov, the new PM

© Velko Angelov


A swan, a crab and a pike - the name of the famous fable describes well the strange nature of the new regular cabinet, led by GERB's Rosen Zhelyazkov, which will likely enter office later today after the almost certain vote of approval by Parliament.

After two empty spins of the political roulette and two mandates of the Glavchev caretaker government since April 2024, Bulgaria is getting a regular government for the third time in the last four years. On Wednesday, GERB's nominee for prime minister, Rosen Zhelyazkov, received and immediately returned to President Rumen Radev the folder with the completed mandate and the composition of the future cabinet of the coalition between his GERB party, the socialists from BSP, and Slavi Trifonov's TISP. The coalition will be backed by Ahmed Dogan's Alliance for Rights and Freedoms (MRF-Dogan) in Parliament, which will not participate in the executive.

The previous two regular governments since 2021 did not last long - the cabinet of Kiril Petkov, elected in early 2022 from the four-party coalition of WCC, Democratic Bulgaria, BSP and TISP remained in office for only six months. It was overthrown by a no confidence motion voted by GERB, MRF (then united and under the command of Delyan Peevski) and TISP.

The second attempt of the Denkov-Gabriel cabinet, the fruit of a joint government agreed by GERB and WCC-DB on a rotational basis, lasted only nine months before Boyko Borissov terminated it.

The new future government will actually be GERB's second attempt at a Zhelyazkov cabinet, after one fell through after the June 2024 elections. It will also be GERB's first with a leading role since 2021.

GERB Dream Team - with some new additions

The draft cabinet of Rosen Zhelyazkov includes well-known names from GERB. Among them are Tomislav Donchev, who has been proposed as both deputy prime minister and minister of innovation. The Finance Ministry this time is entrusted to Temenuzhka Petkova, who used to be deputy finance minister in the Bliznahski caretaker cabinet (2014). Immediately afterwards he became Minister of Energy in the Borissov 2 and Borissov 3 cabinets. In this role, Petkova signed the roadmap for the construction of the TurkStream pipeline through Bulgaria and the attempt to revive the Belene nuclear power plant project, the postponed reform of the electricity market and some controversial appointments in state-owned energy companies.

Energy will go to Zhecho Stankov. He is a long-time GERB cadre and has a long experience in the energy sector and enjoys a good reputation in the sector. Before entering politics, he was the manager and owner of the Ecogas Engineering and Ecotest companies, which deal with gasification, heating, technical supervision of dangerous facilities and the construction of compressor stations. He co-founded the Bulgarian Compressed Gas Association.

Georg Georgiev, nominated for foreign minister, rose to prominence as chairman of GERB's youth organization (and with a video in which he kisses Boyko Borissov's hand). He then became the youngest deputy minister when he was appointed in the MFA to the third Borissov government. This did not stop his appearances on the political scene. After the protests against Borissov began in 2020, he played a leading role in organizing a counter-offensive through all channels, including by spreading incorrect information online.

Daniel Mitov, another long-time GERB spearhead and current deputy-head of the party, will head the Interior Ministry. He was foreign minister in one of Borissov's governments, as well as a candidate for PM in another failed draft cabinet, but he has nothing to do with the police. Education, Justice and Defense also remain under GERB control, with the army remaining under the political control of one of the few caretaker ministers to remain from the Glavchev cabinet - Atanas Zapryanov. Valentin Mundov also keeps his position as Electronic Governance head and Georgi Tahov remains as agricultural minister.

Which ministries will be in the BSP's orbit?

Each of the three parties in the coalition will have its own deputy prime minister and on the left this will be the acting chairman of the party Atanas Zafirov (BSP), who will be deputy prime minister without portfolio overlooking the defense and police sectors.

Unsurprisingly, BSP is entrusted with the social ministry and Zafirov's ally Borislav Gutsanov will take over the domain. The deputy from Varna was chairman of the BSP city organization in the city from 2007 to 2013. He was elected MP in 2013. He was Deputy Chairman and Chairman of the Committee on Regional Policy and Local Self-Government and a member of the Committee on Transport, Information Technology and Communications. And in the summer of last year he was among the likely contenders for the BSP chairmanship.

Ivan Ivanov, who is famous for lasting just a few hours as deputy interior minister in the Oresharski cabinet (2013-2014) because of the revelation by Capital weekly that he had been the manager of the Shumen branch of the power insurance company SIC since 1995 will now hold the Regional Ministry. He has no experience in construction or regional governance, but will be entrusted with one of the most resource-rich ministries - that of regional development. It is the principal of the road agency that hands out the billions for road maintenance and construction. BSP will also take over the Environmental and Sport ministries.

Generous portfolios for TISP

Grozdan Karadzhov has been proposed as deputy prime minister and transport minister by Slavi Trifonov's party. He is a well-known name from the recent past, as he has gone through Ivan Kostov's cabinet, the Reformist Bloc (2014-2016) and, in the last few years, TISP. Karadzhov held the position of Regional Development Minister in the coalition government of WCC, DB, BSP and TISP in 2022-2023. His work as a minister is remembered for the attempt to unfreeze payments of more than 3 billion levs to construction companies under contracts concluded by GERB and in-house orders of the Road Agency, but he came into conflict with then-Finance Minister Assen Vassilev (WCC) and his plans never came to fruition.

Trifonov's party also takes over the Health Ministry, where it sends the temporary speaker of parliament - the oldest MP and respected urologist Silvi Kirilov, the Economic Ministry, where they send the completely unknown "expert" Petar Dilov and Culture, which will be headed by actor Marian Bachev.

An uncertain future

This is, in short, the new regular cabinet. It is a hotchpotch of different partisan interests with no coherent ideology or reform focus that is glued only by the fact that there are no alternatives. Notably, the coalition excludes Democratic Bulgaria, who were kicked out of the negotiations by GERB over their insistence on a "sanitary cordon" against MRF-Peevski being included in the text of the coalition agreement.

Moreover, despite MRF-Dogan's support, the "sanitary cordon" element remains missing from the final agreement between the three parties. This means that there might be a cold peace between the two MRF strands. It remains an open question how long it would last.

The big question of what the new tripartite coalition would do on key topics - Euro accession, Ukraine aid, rearmament, energy and fiscal policy, as well as infrastructure projects and EU funds absorption - remains open. What is certain is that a lot will happen behind the curtains.

A swan, a crab and a pike - the name of the famous fable describes well the strange nature of the new regular cabinet, led by GERB's Rosen Zhelyazkov, which will likely enter office later today after the almost certain vote of approval by Parliament.

After two empty spins of the political roulette and two mandates of the Glavchev caretaker government since April 2024, Bulgaria is getting a regular government for the third time in the last four years. On Wednesday, GERB's nominee for prime minister, Rosen Zhelyazkov, received and immediately returned to President Rumen Radev the folder with the completed mandate and the composition of the future cabinet of the coalition between his GERB party, the socialists from BSP, and Slavi Trifonov's TISP. The coalition will be backed by Ahmed Dogan's Alliance for Rights and Freedoms (MRF-Dogan) in Parliament, which will not participate in the executive.

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