The composition of the cabinet for the second term has been finally agreed upon, Prime Minister nominees Nikolay Denkov and Mariya Gabriel announced in a special statement. A majority to amend the Constitution was also agreed upon.
There will be a government, Denkov and Gabriel declared after 6 hours of negotiations between the first two political forces. The staff and priorities of the cabinet have been agreed upon. The Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS), which declared support for constitutional change, joined the talks today.
Acad. Nikolay Denkov (from WCC-DB), nominated for prime minister of a government with the second term, and Mariya Gabriel, nominated for vice-prime minister (from GERB-SDS), presented the project for a regular government.
Acad. Denkov pointed out that at 11:00 a.m. on Monday, the folder with the completed mandate for the regular cabinet will be returned to President Rumen Radev.
“The news from yesterday is that we have a cabinet composition. The news from today is that we held talks about how we should secure a majority for the constitutional reform, we talked about that today,” the candidate for prime minister with the second term from the WCC-DB also pointed out.
“Only changes in the laws will not complete the whole process, so it was necessary if we could secure 160 deputies for constitutional reform,” noted Denkov.
He thanked the journalists and the Bulgarian public for their patience, because they had to finish this negotiation process.
DPS joined the talks today, declaring support for constitutional change. On this occasion, Mariya Grabiel announced:
“As you just heard from Acad. Denkov, in addition to the composition of the government, we also have a majority for constitutional reform”.
Mariya Gabriel, who will assume the post of prime minister in the second 9 months, announced a program for the future government with 6 priorities. She emphasized that there will be no purge in the state administration.
Gabriel also thanked GERB-SDS, WCC-DB and DPS for putting the interests of the citizens above the party interests and read a joint declaration prepared with Acad. Denkov, which aims to protect the rights of the administration.
“Thank you for your patience, thank you to all Bulgarian citizens. I thank Acad. Denkov, in addition to patience and dialogue, I want to thank GERB-SDS, WCC-DB and DPS for putting the interests of the citizens above those of the parties and clearly stating the Euro-Atlantic orientation of the country. Every Bulgarian citizen wants to live in a country whose institutions are stable. Besides the laws and norms, it depends on the people who work in the institutions. They must be professionals, we stand behind every single employee in the administration who is responsible criteria and has proven with their work that they protect the interests of citizens and the state,” said Gabriel.
“Our program envisages working hard to pass laws by the National Assembly for transparent and responsible administration, ensuring continuous monitoring and feedback to citizens, quality guaranteed services for citizens. All civil servants who perform their duties politically neutrally and are in accordance with the laws of the country can be calm about its realization. Our actions will be guided by the laws and the rule of law,” emphasized Mariya Gabriel.
Meanwhile, Nikolay Denkov clarified what they discussed today with the DPS:
“We discussed how the relevant changes in the Constitution should be made, how to approach the change of regulators, so that no one feels excluded from the processes, and this will happen clearly and transparently. For example, for the regulators, the candidates will be discussed, but they will be presented in the National Assembly. The discussions were of this type, about mechanisms, not about hidden agreements”.
Denkov explained that he and Gabriel are aware that it will be difficult for them in the coming months, but they are convinced that this step will be useful for the country.
“If these changes, for which we are working, go in the wrong direction, we have both said to each other that we will resign, because the purpose of this government is to be able to work with the parliament to adopt the right laws,” stressed Denkov.
Earlier today, Denkov noted that party figures have dropped out of the draft cabinet and have been replaced by people with an expert profile. He added that the composition of the project for a regular government with the second term is consensual and selected so as to gain wider support in the parliament.
Shuttles were also held in the National Assembly between representatives of WCC-DB and GERB-SDS with DPS in search of parliamentary support.
Full official list of ministers’ names:
- Nikolay Denkov – rotating Prime Minister for the first 9 months;
- Maria Gabriel – Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, rotating Prime Minister for the second 9 months;
- Asen Vassilev – Minister of Finance and European Funds;
- Kalin Stoyanov – Minister of Internal Affairs;
- Todor Tagarev – Minister of Defense;
- Julian Popov – Minister of Environment and Water and Chairman of the Advisory Council for the European Green Deal;
- Rumen Radev /deputy-chairman of the Association of Industrial Capital in Bulgaria/ – Minister of Energy;
- Andrey Tsekov – Minister of Regional Development and Public Works;
- Kiril Vatev – Minister of Agriculture and Food;
- Prof. Galin Tsokov – Minister of Education and Science;
- Krastyu Krastev – Minister of Culture;
- Bogdan Bogdanov – Minister of Economy and Industry;
- Milena Stoycheva – Minister of Innovation and Growth;
- Ivanka Shalapatova – Minister of Labor and Social Policy;
- Atanas Slavov – Minister of Justice;
- Georgi Gvozdeikov – Minister of Transport and Communications;
- Prof. Hristo Hinkov – Minister of Health;
- Zaritsa Dimkova – Minister of Tourism;
- Alexander Iolovski – Minister of Electronic Government;
- Dimitar Iliev – Minister of Youth and Sports.
The official composition of the cabinet is the same as the unofficial one, with one exception – the appointed Minister of Justice. Emil Dechev was replaced by Atanas Slavov. Acad. Denkov was concise, specifying that this is the final and official composition of the cabinet and Atanas Slavov is a professor of constitutional law. He will participate in the debate on constitutional reform.