Bulgarian Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov resigned on Tuesday, clearing the way for his coalition partner, the center-right GERB party, to lead the government as agreed after last year’s election, but there is some controversy over what happens next.

GERB and the pro-Western bloc led by Continuing Change, of which Denkov is a member, signed an agreement last year under which Foreign Minister and former European Commissioner Maria Gabriel will take over as prime minister after Denkov’s resignation. -monthly mandate, Reuters and Agerpres agencies remind.

Bulgaria’s BTA agency reported that Prime Minister Nikola Denkov’s resignation letter would be submitted to parliament, but did not say when Maria Gabriel would be sworn in.

The Sofia Globe news site warned that despite the agreement, the coalition could fall apart due to disputes between the partners over how to proceed after Denkov’s resignation.

GERB is pushing for Maria Gabriel to retain the position of foreign minister as long as she is prime minister, and is proposing a rotation every 15 months instead of nine months. Both issues are still at the stage of coordination with the “Continuing changes” block.

The two sides are due to announce whether they have reached an agreement by Friday, the website said.

“This is not a political game, but keeping one’s word, expressing succession, political fair play and respect for citizens,” said Mykola Denkov’s statement. “I now stand by the commitments we made in the joint statement of June 6, 2023.”

That day, the parliament in Sofia voted in favor of a government that was going to implement the reforms that would eventually bring Bulgaria into the euro zone and the Schengen zone.

In the elections of April 2023, GERB won, receiving 69 parliamentary mandates out of a total of 240. The bloc led by “Continuamua changania” received 64 mandates.