Balgarianovinite.com President Iliana Iotova will hand the first exploratory mandate to form a government at 5:00 p.m. on May 7 after consultations with parliamentary groups on Tuesday showed broad agreement that the next cabinet should move quickly on the budget, judicial reform and measures against inflation, while opposition parties signalled readiness for dialogue but not unconditional support.
“I have the assurance of Progressive Bulgaria that they will come with a fulfilled mandate”, Iotova told reporters after the talks. She said the discussions had outlined two immediate priorities: a budget framework and judicial reform. “The consensus was that we should start with a half-year budget that would break the inflationary spiral and help the most vulnerable and socially disadvantaged”, she said.
The consultations came after Progressive Bulgaria won an absolute majority in the April 19 snap parliamentary elections, creating what Iotova described during talks with the coalition as a new political situation. “It will not be easy for any institution in the country, but I hope for a new way of working between institutions”, Iotova told Progressive Bulgaria. She stressed that the party now holds full responsibility for the next government, adding: “Everything is in your hands. You can form a government on your own. That depends on you”.
Progressive Bulgaria representatives said they were aware of the public pressure for rapid decisions. Floor Leader Petar Vitanov said the party’s central pledge was to end the instability that has marked recent political life. “What we can promise is to put an end to the political crisis and address the challenges for which society gave us the mandate to act, such as sharp impoverishment and galloping inflation”, he said. He identified the potential budget deficit as a major problem and said the next National Assembly and Council of Ministers would work on laws aimed at restoring justice.
Progressive Bulgaria MP Galab Donev focused on public finances, saying the deficit had reached 1.4% of GDP as of April and that the National Assembly might need to set a new debt ceiling to secure payments for pensions and salaries. “This indicates that the structure of the expenditure side is not well organized and will lead to a number of negative consequences, as these are long-term expenses that recur over the years”, Donev said, referring to rising personnel, pension and capital expenditure. He also pointed to delays in the absorption of EU and Recovery and Resilience Plan funds.
After the talks, Progressive Bulgaria’s Anton Kutev said the party expected the cabinet-forming process to be completed quickly. “It is certain that there will be a government by the end of the week”, he said. He listed the fight against state capture and corruption, inflation and prices, the budget and a change in the model of governance among the main priorities of the future cabinet.
The consultations with GERB-UDF showed a willingness to back individual reform-oriented policies while keeping the party in opposition. Iotova told GERB-UDF that the country needed a substantive opposition and better institutional cooperation. “We hope for stability, a developed and prosperous Bulgaria, for which the work of the opposition is of great importance”, she said. GERB deputy leader Tomislav Donchev said the budget and deficit reduction could be shared priorities across Parliament. “As someone with right-leaning views, I would limit inefficient public spending, which does not mean social payments should suffer”, he said, warning against a permanent course of increasing debt.
The Movement for Rights and Freedoms also positioned itself as an opposition force willing to participate in major debates. “We will be a constructive opposition, but the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) will insist on maintaining normal dialogue between political parties and institutions”, MRF deputy Floor Leader Ayten Sabri said. During the same round of talks, Iotova said the timeline for forming a cabinet was ambitious but clear: “Our ambition is for Bulgaria to have a new government by the end of the week”.
With Democratic Bulgaria (DB), Iotova again stressed the need for the majority and opposition to find common ground on issues expected by citizens. She said the caretaker government had operated under a twice-extended 2025 budget and had worked in a situation she described as being “on the edge”. Democratic Bulgaria representatives said they would support correct policies but would closely watch whether the new majority delivers on anti-corruption and judicial reform. “We will strictly monitor that the model is dismantled so that another regrouping does not occur, as has happened in the past, the model will try to do so”, DB deputy Floor Leader Bozhidar Bozhanov said, referring to what the coalition calls the Peevski-Borissov model. The coalition also called for replacing the Supreme Judicial Council by the end of the parliamentary session and warned against raising the debt ceiling.
Continue the Change (CC) used its talks with Iotova to stress that the post-election period would test institutions’ ability to respond to citizens. “The elections are over, and from here on comes the harder part – all of you and all of us as institutions must respond to the high expectations of Bulgarian citizens”, Iotova told the party. CC Chair Assen Vassilev said the party had proposals on the budget and hoped the winning force would listen to them. “We hope there will be responsiveness from Progressive Bulgaria”, he said. After the consultations, however, Vassilev made clear that CC would not support the future cabinet as a whole. “We will certainly not support a government of Progressive Bulgaria. Our voters gave us the role of opposition” [48], he said, adding that the party would back specific measures on judicial reform and the budget.
The sharpest policy differences emerged during the consultations with Vazrazhdane. Iotova said people needed fast results on the budget and judicial reform, while the party warned that a new debt ceiling could put Bulgaria on a path resembling Greece’s debt crisis. Vazrazhdane also raised the issues of the Bulgarian lev, Bulgaria’s commitments to Ukraine, sanctions against Russia and EU policy. “We cannot take out loans to give money to Ukraine”, Vazrazhdane representatives said. Iotova responded that Bulgaria should defend its interests in Europe but remain predictable. “The voice of Bulgaria in the EU is equal to that of the other Member States, but the country must also be a predictable partner”, she said.
Across the talks, the budget emerged as the first political test for the expected cabinet. Progressive Bulgaria linked it to inflation and social protection, GERB-UDF to spending discipline and deficit reduction, Democratic Bulgaria to debt restraint and administrative reform, Continue the Change to specific legislative measures, and Vazrazhdane to opposition against new borrowing. Judicial reform was the second common theme, with several groups pointing to the replacement of the Supreme Judicial Council as the first step.
Iotova said all parliamentary groups came prepared with legislative programmes. While the approaches differed, she said there was broad agreement that Bulgaria must secure Recovery and Resilience Plan payments, stabilize public finances without tax increases, preserve social payments and elect new members of the Supreme Judicial Council under clear and transparent criteria. President Iotova to Hand Cabinet-Forming Mandate May 7 as Budget, Judicial Reform Emerge as Priorities 2026 THE NEWS FROM BULGARIA – NEWS AGENCY 2009-2025 2026-05-05 19:39:28 Latest news World news Country news Most important news latest news most important latest of the day Justice Petar Nizamov Feathers Petar Nizamov- Feathers Justice bg iustitia.bg iustitia iusticia usticia investigation Burgas Bulgaria news news of the last hour news of the day news of today Bulgaria news The news from Bulgaria blitz news top news most important most commented latest news Boyko Borisov news weather coronavirus news news weather facebook youtube facebook instagram news today news of the last minutes news today today news news bg news leading news hot news bg news site for news all news news bg news of the last hour latest latest news bg news of today news today news today news of the last hour latest news today news bg news news 24 hours news vesti bg novini news world bird bg bivol bg bivol trud bg novini latest news today novinite bg news hello bulgaria political party coat of arms delyan peevski scandalous Bulgarian National Television Free Europe Television scandal exclusive live tv live right now tv tv online tv program bg live now tv news online tv online live court Burgas court Burgas district court Burgas court Burgas district court Burgas district court Burgas appellate court Burgas prosecutor Burgas prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev Prosecutor Geshev Tsatsarov Ministry of Internal Affairs Burgas ODMR Burgas ODPR Burgas police Burgas district police Burgas prosecutor Tsatsarov SGS cases Varna court chairman of the SGS court decisions on civil cases decisions on cases Plovdiv court decision of the court decisions cases Varna court criminal cases district district court decisions work in the court SGS chairman of the SGS judges Sofia court post judges Plovdiv court Plovdiv judges Plovdiv Supreme Court Inspectorate Supreme Court Supreme Judicial Council lawyer lawyer criminal cases lawyer civil cases lawyer marriage cases lawyer administrative criminal law criminal process civil law civil process administrative law constitutional law