Bulgaria's GERB Officially Set to Form Minority Cabinet

GERB party, winner in the recent general elections, will run a minority government to tackle corruption and the economic crisis, it emerged on the second day of consultations over the new cabinet.

This will be the second minority government after the cabinet, headed by Filip Dimitrov (1991-1992).

Boyko Borisov, leader of the formerly opposition GERB party that won by far the most seats in Bulgarian parliamentary elections, but not an outright majority, will not include members of the right-wing Blue coalition in his government, the most likely coalition partner.

"We are held responsible by over 1,6 million Bulgarians and bear responsibility for the whole society," Tsvetan Tsvetanov, chair of GERB parliamentary group, told reporters after his meeting with representatives of the Blue Coalition.

Tsvetanov added that GERB will invite experts from the coalition to join the work of particular ministries on the basis of a memorandum.

The centre-right party has already proposed a draft memorandum, which highlights the unity and consolidation of the majority, support for the future cabinet and the adoption of constitutional amendments.

"We are talking here about a minority cabinet with strong parliamentary support," Tsvetanov added.

Later in the day Bulgaria's nationalist Ataka party pledged firm parliamentary support for a GERB government without any coalition partners.

Nationalist leader Volen Siderov expressed support for the memorandum and added that agreement has been reached on the need for a revision of the previous governing, administrative changes and legislative amendments.

GERB announced a day earlier that they will offer a memorandum for political partnership and support for its new government to all parliamentary parties except for the ones that participated in the outgoing Socialist-led three-way coalition.

The conservative center-right GERB claimed 116 MP seats in July 5 vote, shattering Prime Minister Sergey Stanishev's Socialist Party and falling just five seats short of holding a majority in the 240-seat unicameral parliament, which makes it easy for it to enter a wide range of informal alliances.

Borissov, a former bodyguard who founded GERB in 2006, will be ordered on Thursday to form a government after his party ousted the Socialists in July 5 elections.

He'll complete the job by July 27, he said.

The next government is expected to bring in Western-educated economists and reformists to fulfill a pledge to revive the economy and clamp down on chronic corruption.

Simeon Djankov, Minister of Finance, Tsvetan Tsvetanov, Interior Minister, Yordanka Fandakova, Minister of Education and Vezhdi Rashidov, Minister of Culture, have been assured of ministerial positions so far.

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