Former European Commissioner Maria Gabriel, now Bulgaria’s foreign minister, agreed on Monday to form a new government following the resignation of Prime Minister Nikola Denkov, Reuters reported.

Maria GabrielPhoto: Vondrous Roman / ČTK / Profimedia

Denkov resigned on March 5 as part of the government rotation agreed with Gabriel’s center-right GERB party. GERB and the pro-Western Continue Change bloc reached a governing agreement after last April’s parliamentary elections, the neighboring country’s fifth in just two years, which featured a rotating prime minister.

“This is not a political game, but keeping one’s word, expressing succession, political fair play and respect for citizens,” Mykola Denkov said after submitting his resignation earlier this month. “I am now following the commitments we made in the joint statement of June 6, 2023,” he added.

“I accept this mandate with a sense of responsibility because Bulgaria needs stability,” Gabriel, a former EU commissioner for the digital economy between 2017 and 2019 and then for innovation, research, culture, education and youth between 2019 and 2023, said on Monday. for years ., when he returned to the Bulgarian government to hold the portfolio of foreign relations.

Maria Gabriel can be the prime minister and the minister of foreign affairs of Bulgaria at the same time

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.

GERB (Citizens for the European Development of Bulgaria) is a party led by former Prime Minister Boyko Borissov, who resigned after the 2021 elections, which were marked by months of protests against his rule. Although his party won the elections held 3 years ago, GERB lost its majority in parliament.

Maria Gabriel also said on Monday that she hoped the list of the new cabinet would be finalized within the day, as there were “no differences on the country’s priorities” between the two political formations.

It is not yet clear whether Gabriel will also continue as foreign minister in the future executive in Sofia, which GERB asked its governing partners to do earlier in March.