Bulgaria’s Socialist-backed government has ruled out holding early general elections in the autumn, when the country will vote for members of European parliament.

“Early general elections in the autumn or even by the end of the year are highly unlikely, but of course it is also important how the government will be doing its job by that time,” Foreign Minister Vigenin told national state TV BNT on Tuesday morning.

Commenting expectations that protesters are gearing up for a showdown in September, the minister said:

“If this really turns out to be the case, police will have to take additional measures.”

The statement comes just as the anti-governmental protests hit the two -month mark.

A month ago the minister claimed that “if the situation becomes really dramatic, we will quit”.

The government's latest victory over the presidential veto of the budget revision seеms to have boosted its self-confidence.

At the end of last week members of Bulgaria's parliament from the ruling Socialist and ethnic Turkish parties, together with the nationalists, united to overturn the veto on the budget revision.

Meanwhile the protests continued, but do not seem potent enough to put a spanner in the works of the current parliament, at least for the time being.