June 5 (SeeNews) - Nikolay Denkov, the prime minister-designate of the coalition We Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria (WCC-DB), proposed a list of cabinet ministers to president Rumen Radev on Monday, within a week of being handed the second exploratory mandate.
"We all need to calm the situation, so that people can see that the cabinet, the parliament and the presidency are working together to the best interests of the people and business," Denkov said, as seen in a video posted by the state broadcaster BNT.
For his part, the president said he will instruct parliament as soon as possible to hold a vote on the proposed cabinet.
The centre-right GERB-UDF coalition, which came first in the April general election, and election runner-up, the coalition of We Continue the Change and Democratic Bulgaria (WCC-DB), agreed on a rotation government last month, in a last-ditch effort to form a regular government and forge on with much-needed adoption of crucial legislation that can unlock further tranches of EU funds under the national Recovery and Resilience Plan.
GERB-UDF holds 69 seats in the 240-seat National Assembly while the WCC-DB coalition has 63 MPs. Together, their 132 MPs exceed the required majority of 121 for the government to be voted in by parliament.
Denkov will be prime minister on a rotational basis for nine months, with former Bulgarian EU commissioner Mariya Gabriel of GERB-UDF to serve as deputy prime minister and minister of foreign affairs before taking over the position of prime minister.
Bogdan Bogdanov, the executive director of the Invest Bulgaria government agency, has been nominated as minister of economy and growth. Denkov named as finance minister and minister in charge of European funds Assen Vassilev, co-leader of WCC and former finance minister under the coalition government which was led by Kiril Petkov and fell apart after losing a motion of no confidence last summer.
Since last August, Bulgaria has been ruled by a caretaker government appointed by president Radev.