Reuters: Bulgaria Faces Risk of Political Instability as PM Loses Majority
SOFIA (Reuters) - Bulgaria's prime minister pledged to lead a minority government on Wednesday as the populist ITN party quit the government over disagreements on budget spending and whether Bulgaria should back North Macedonia's European Union accession.
Kiril Petkov said he was "optimistic" his centrist PP party and its two remaining coalition partners could still deliver on pledges to uproot widespread corruption in the EU's poorest member state after losing their parliamentary majority.
But analysts say the rift is likely to bring fresh instability just as the Ukraine war causes inflation to surge. Petkov's government only took office in December after a prolonged political crisis.
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WNU Editor: The Estonian coalition government collapsed last week (link here). Now the Bulgarian government. Is there a trend?
Update: Bulgaria says no heavy weapons to Ukraine .... ‘We Have Done Enough’: Bulgaria Rejects Ukraine’s Plea for Heavy Weapons (Balkan Insight).
Update #2: Bulgaria's relations with Russia have been severely damaged from this war .... Bulgaria will never negotiate with Gazprom again (Euractiv).