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Thursday 23 July 2009

New Bulgarian Cabinet Announced

Boyko Borisov, leader of the GERB party and future Prime Minister of Bulgaria, announced Thursday the names of the Ministers in the new Bulgarian government.

At a special ceremony at the Bulgarian Presidency, Borisov handed back to President Georgi Parvanov the mandate to appoint new cabinet that he received on July 16.

The new Bulgarian government consists of 15 Ministers. Former senior World Bank economist Simeon Djankov is the new Minister of Finance;

the GERB party Chair Tsvetan Tsvetanov is the new Interior Minister;

Sofia Deputy Mayor Yordanka Fandakova is becoming Minister of Education.

The biggest surprise in the new government is Traycho Traykov, procurist of EVN electricity distribution company, who will head the Ministry of Economy, Energy, and Tourism.

Sculptor Vezhdi Rashidov will be the Minister of Culture, former MEP Nikolay Mladenov - Defense Minister, and prosecutor Margarita Popova - Justice Minister.

MEP Rumiana Jeleva is taking over the Foreign Ministry, and the Mayor of the city of Vratsa Totyu Mladenov - the Social and Labor Ministry. 

Bozhidar Nanev, GERB MP and surgeon at Varna University Hospital will be in charge of the Health Ministry.

Construction businessman Rosen Plevneliev will be Regional Development Minister.

Environment consultant Nona Karadzhova is expected to be the next Environment Minister.

Alexander Tsvetkov, currently Deputy Mayor of the capital Sofia, will be the new Transport Minister.

Miroslav Naydenov is taking over the Agriculture Ministry, after MP Dessislava Taneva withdrew her nomination in the last minute.

Bozhidar Dimitrov, the director of Bulgaria's National History Museum is going to be Minister without a portfolio in charge of the Bulgarian citizens abroad.

Svilen Neykov, Bulgarian rowing champion and coach and husband of Bulgarian Beijing Olympics gold medalist Rumyana Neykova, will be in charge of the newly created Sports Ministry.

The GERB party, which won 40% of the votes in the Bulgarian Parliamentary Elections on July 5, will run a minority government to tackle corruption and the economic crisis. It has 116 MPs in the 240-seat Parliamentary. GERB defeated the Socialist Party of former Prime Minister Sergey Stanishev, which got only 18% of the votes.

Three other smaller right-wing Bulgarian parties - the nationalist "Ataka" party of Volen Siderov (21 MP seats), the rightist Blue Coalition of Ivan Kostov and Martin Dimitrov (15 MPs), and the conservative RZS ("Order, Law, Justice") party of Yane Yanev (10 MPs) - have made it clear they would support the minority government of GERB without receiving ministerial seats on the condition that it works for certain national priorities, most notably fighting corruption and leading Bulgaria out of the economic crisis.

Borisov's GERB government will be Bulgaria's second minority cabinet since 1989 after the one, headed by Filip Dimitrov (1991-1992).

Uncles Comment: If these people make a hash of it, god knows who the Bulgarian people will turn to, lets hope they get it right !.


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