Bulgaria’s Energy Minister Alexander Nikolov resigns

Bulgaria’s Energy Minister Alexander Nikolov submitted his resignation on June 13. A little later, Foreign Minister Teodora Genchovska also resigned.

The other two ministers of "There is Such a People" quota – the minister of regional development and the sports minister - submitted their resignations last week after it became clear that Slavi Trifonov's party was withdrawing its ministers from the coalition government.

"Elections are the last option in this situation" - is the position of "We Continue the Change", a partner in the ruling coalition.

The other partner in the coalition, The Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) has decided to stay in power so that the country is not thrown into chaos.

For "Democratic Bulgaria", also a partner in the coalition government, the format for decision-making is important from now on.

The triple coalition now does not have a majority in Parliament and 12 votes of support are needed from outside the coalition to pass the budget and the most pressing bills.

After the exit of "There is Such a People" from the coalition, while "We Continue the Change” are looking for 12 MPs, BSP said it remains firmly behind the government. For "Democratic Bulgaria", the format for decision-making is important from now on.

"It should be clear that some group of MPs support on a principled basis, not because there are some hidden agreements with them. For us it is important that on 4-5 issues that are in our governance programme there is still a guaranteed majority based on agreements in principle. For us it is important that this government has some more time to do the job it was elected for", said Atanas Slavov from “Democratic Bulgaria”.

According to Daniel Smilov, there is a coordinated attack on the ruling majority from three sides:

"On one side is President Radev, on the other side is the internal attack from “There is Such a People” and of course, on the third side are the opposition GERB and Movement for Rigths and Freedoms," Smilov said.

"There is non-acceptance, intolerance and denial of the other. We all know who cannot tolerate whom. There is no way not to collapse the government given that you are not going to vote any proposals of this government," said Assoc. Prof. Tatiana Burudzhieva, analyst.

Analysts draw two scenarios. The first one – PM Kiril Petkov and “We Continue the Change” find the MPs they need to strengthen the government.

"For me, this seems the less likely option for now. From there on, the second option may be possible - forming a temporary majority in this Parliament. Who that will be is clear - it will be GERB, MRF, “There is Such a People” and I guess with a little support from “Vazrazhdane” or some other group. This temporary majority will be engaged in some amendments to the budget, updating the budget," Smilov said.

"With the budget update, in my opinion, this new majority that the colleague is talking about is going to cause trouble, in my opinion, in this budget. We have to go through elections because the electoral picture and the support of the people has changed a lot," Burudzhieva said.

And who will fill the vacant ministerial posts and from which party of the now three-party coalition – it remains unclear for now.