Financial Times

By Neil Buckley in London and Theodor Troev in Sofia

Bulgaria emerged from months of political uncertainty on Wednesday when parliament approved a Socialist-led but partially technocratic government headed by an independent touted by backers as the “Bulgarian Mario Monti”.

Plamen Oresharski, the candidate for prime minister, served as finance minister in the Socialist-led coalition of 2005-09. But his rightist background and reputation for fiscal discipline have led the Socialists to compare him to Italy’s former technocrat premier, insisting he would bring “stability, economic growth, high incomes and a normal business environment”.

Mr Oresharski’s nomination along with several non-partisan “expert” ministers is an attempt to reach out to disenchanted voters after the previous centre-right government was toppled in February by Bulgaria’s biggest street protests since the 1990s.

Some proposed cabinet members have already had to be substituted after media allegations that they had murky ties to business or corruption.

The coalition of the Socialists, who finished second in May 12 elections, and a third-placed party, representing ethnic Turks, secured the necessary majority to be confirmed by parliament, though together they hold only 120 out of 240 seats.

That will complicate the new government’s task, forcing it to woo opposition support to guarantee a majority on a case-by-case basis.

First place in the election went to the Citizens for the European Development of Bulgaria party, or Gerb, of Boiko Borisov, who resigned amid the February protests. Mr Borisov was asked by Bulgaria’s president last week to form a new government.

He returned the mandate the same day, however, saying his party could not work with Ataka, the fourth-placed ultranationalist party that was its only potential partner after the other two parties in parliament refused to form a coalition with it.

The Socialist-led “programme” government will attempt to turn the page on a bitter few months in Bulgarian politics. The winter protests, triggered initially by rising energy prices, escalated into a cry of anger over low wages and economic stagnation, and a political class widely seen as incompetent and corrupt.

The campaign was marred by a political bugging scandal, and the election result was weakened by the discovery of 350,000 illegally printed ballot papers at a printers linked to the Gerb party.

Mr Oresharski will be under pressure to maintain the stable public finances that have won the country plaudits from the EU while satisfying the popular demand for higher wages, stronger growth and smaller energy bills.

Daniel Smilov, a political analyst at the Centre for Liberal Strategies think tank in Sofia, said the proposed coalition’s policies were unlikely to mark a big change from its predecessor’s, with some measures to help the worst off, but continued fiscal discipline.

“The question is whether this continuity will be acceptable for the people: for the time being, the energy of the protesters seems exhausted but, if electricity prices continue to go up against the background of stagnating incomes, further unrest could be expected – especially in the winter,” he said.

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