By - 27th June 2005
Delay to forming a new Sofia administration could hit Bulgaria’s EU entry hopes following national elections at the weekend.
Bulgaria’s opposition Socialists won June 25 elections with 31 per cent of the vote toppling the ruling National Movement for Simeon II.
Despite sealing EU entry and NATO membership for Bulgaria, the country’s Prime Minister, and former monarch, Simeon Saxe-Coburg Gotha secured only 20 per cent of the poll.
But victorious Socialists are unable to command a majority in the 240-strong Bulgarian Parliament heralding a summer of horse-trading and jockeying for position.
Socialist leader Sergei Stanishev must find partners in a legislature dominated by the centre-right – a task that might not be easy.
The departing NMS government has not ruled out a coalition government but is currently insisting Saxe-Coburg must be prime minister.
Stanishev is unlikely to accept the demand for the present heralding a summer of political negotiations as Bulgaria enters the final stages of EU entry.
“We expect difficult negotiations. But we should not miss the opportunity to unify a solid majority, which will then appoint a stable government,” said Socialist leader Rumen Petkov.
“The most likely scenario is a broad coalition which will reflect the result of the vote and the priorities of the Socialist party.”
Extended delay could hit Bulgaria’s EU entry – set for January 1 2007 – if Sofia fails to make good on reform pledges.
Bulgaria’s EU membership agreement, signed in April, allows entry to be delayed for one year by Europe’s leaders.
Sofia faces a tight timetable of constitutional and judicial reforms, a legislative programme that could be hit by a failure to secure stable coalition government.
Key judicial reforms are a condition of EU entry and require a two-thirds majority in the Bulgarian parliament.
A European Commission team arrives in Sofia in August to prepare a November progress report confirming, or seeking to postpone, the date of Bulgaria's EU accession.
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