Financial Times; By Stefan Wagstyl and Theodore Troev
Simeon Saxe-Coburg, the former King of Bulgaria, is about to become the country`s prime minister in the first comeback for a royal house in Eastern Europe since the fall of Communism. Speculation grew in Sofia on Thursday night that Mr Saxe-Coburg would announce he would head the government after meeting President Peter Stoyanov on Friday. He was king from 1943 to 1946, when he fled the country at the age of nine after the Communists abolished the monarchy. He returned to live in Bulgaria this year when he established the Simeon II National Movement with promises to root out corruption and improve living standards. Parliament met on Thursday for the first time since last month`s general election, when Mr Saxe-Coburg`s movement roundly defeated the reformist UDF. Mr Saxe-Coburg, who did not run for parliament, did not speak but there was a strong call for his appointment as prime minister from one of his potential coalition partners. `In Simeon, people saw an alternative...a symbol who can act as a bridge between the past, the present and the future`, Ahmed Dogan, leader of the ethnic Turk Movement for Rights and Freedoms, told the chamber. Mr Dogan said the MRF, which has 21 seats, was ready for a coalition with Mr Saxe-Coburg`s, movement which has 120, one short of a majority. Stefan Sofianski, mayor of Sofia and a prominent UDF member, said it was `very likely` Mr Saxe-Coburg would be prime minister. There was nobody of similar stature in the former king`s movement, he said. Ognyan Gerdzhikov, head of Mr Saxe-Coburg`s movement`s judicial team who was appointed speaker of parliament, said: `The idea of Simeon Saxe-Coburg becoming Bulgaria`s prime minister is supported by all the members of the movement`s parliamentary group. It is up to him whether to accept the post. `He added that it was `very possible` Mr Saxe-Coburg would accept. Mr Saxe-Coburg has yet to spell out his plans. He is committed to pursuing European Union and NATO membership. His advisers have drawn up plans for tight fiscal control and accelerated market-oriented reforms, continuing the work carried out by the UDF. But the movement also attracted support from many poorer Bulgarians after vague promises of pay and pensions increases and interest-free loans. Mr Saxe-Coburg has also prompted speculation that his real aim is to restore the monarchy, something he has never entirely ruled out. On Thursday in parliament, Nadezdha Mihailova, the former foreign minister who has taken over leadership of the UDF parliamentary group, warned: `We will play the role of a guarantor that Bulgaria does not leave the road it has embarked upon. We expect that in four years Bulgaria will still be a parliamentary republic`.