President Iliana Iotova hands the mandate to form a government to Progressive Bulgaria leader Rumen Radev in Sofia, May 7, 2026. Photo: EPA/BULGARIAN PRESIDENCY.
Bulgaria’s new government, entirely formed by the recently founded Progressive Bulgaria party following its landslide election win in April, assumed power on Friday, promising economic stability.
“As early as Monday, we will introduce amendments to laws that will facilitate greater price control,” new Prime Minister, Progressive Bulgaria leader and former President Rumen Radev announced on entering the National Assembly.
Radev is the first politician in Bulgaria’s history to have served both as President and Prime Minister. His cabinet was approved with 124 votes in favour, 70 against while 36 abstained.
The government is expected to put an end to the repetitive election cycle ongoing in Bulgaria since 2021, marked by political figures who quickly rose only to fade away, short-lived coalitions, interim governments amid protest waves.
The stalemate yielded eight elections and increased the ambitions of Radev, who as President tested the waters through a succession of interim cabinets before running for parliament.
The new government is dominated by figures drawn from seven Radev-appointed interim cabinets during the 2021-2026 logjam.
The 2022-2023 caretaker PM and close Radev ally Galab Donev will be Minister of Finance; both men opposed Bulgaria’s cut-off from Russia’s Gazprom in 2022. Radev’s former security secretary, Dimitar Stoyanov, is now in charge of Defence.
Other appointees include Ivan Demerdzhiev, returning as Interior Minister, having previously been interim minister in the same office; Oxford graduate and banker Alexander Pulev will lead the Ministry of Economy after previously being a caretaker Minister for Innovation and Growth.
Volleyball star Vladimir Nikolov, part of the several sports figures who joined Radev’s party, will be Minister of Sports; TV and cinema producer Evtim Miloshev will head the Ministry of Culture after previously serving as interim Tourism Minister.
Donev and Pulev – as well as 2017-2019 chief-of-staff at the Presidency Ivo Hristov and Atanas Pekanov, 2021-2023 head of Management of European Funds – will also act as deputy prime ministers to Radev. In recent media appearances, Hristov has described the party as “centre-left” and has criticised offering further aid to Ukraine.
Radev’s campaign after he resigned as President in January focused on curbing corruption and oligarchic ties, and on criticism of the tarnished legacy of GERB party leader Boyko Borissov and the oligarch and New Beginning leader, Delyan Peevski.
But on Thursday this commitment appeared compromised when all Progressive Bulgaria MPs abstained from a vote on whether parliament should investigate Peevski’s assets – and whether he is breaking limitations imposed by the Global Magnitsky Act, which designated him 2021; he was also sanctioned by the British government in 2023. The sanctions have never triggered an investigation by the prosecution.
The bill was drafted by the opposition Democratic Bulgaria party, which deemed MPs’ reluctance to support it as a sign that Radev’s party is already backing away from promises to initiate justice reform.
“Peevski shouldn’t have the means to buy chewing gum, instead, he flies with his private jets to Dubai all the time,” Ivaylo Mirchev of Democratic Bulgaria said on Friday, hinting at Peevski’s business interests in Dubai. Mirchev described the new cabinet as “featuring some proper people – but also a lot of bureaucrats, lobbyists and propagandists”.
Eyes are also on Nickolay Naydenov, the new Justice Minister, who is the former secretary general of the Anti-Corruption Commission and the Supreme Judicial Council but is largely unknown to the public.
