Bulgarian Socialist Party

"This time we will have 121 deputies. People felt that in these 7 months we made a very good first step. Yes, the absolute change will take more than 7 months, but the first steps are a fact. A real change happened at Kapitan Andreevo and we stopped pesticides from entering the kitchen of Bulgarians.

The caretaker government is changing the entire management team of "Bulgargaz", bTV reports, referring to an application filed in the Commercial Register. The news was confirmed by the spokesman of the cabinet, Anton Kutev.

In a traditional for "We Continue the Change" style, final talks with coalition partners on the governance program for the next six months were being held late last night.

"We have reached an agreement on the government's priorities". This was stated by Asen Vassilev, the proposed candidate for prime minister of "We Continue the Change", after the talks with the Bulgarian Socialist Party.

Bulgaria will not fulfill the ultimatum set yesterday by Russia - to revise its decision on the expulsion of 70 people - diplomats and employees from Moscow's missions in our country.

"It became clear that the work on the issue of expelled Russian diplomats has not been conducted recently, but started in March - there are reports, then 3 reports from SANS, then the Security Council with all services", said the resigned Prime Minister Kiril Petkov today in the corridors of the National Assembly after negotiations with the BSP parliamentary group.

In June, eight parties received enough support from voters to enter parliament, and in three of them, those who sympathize with Bulgaria's alliance with Russia and Belarus outnumber those who support the European Union and NATO. In just one of them, more than half are about to turn to Moscow and Minsk, which together attacked Ukraine four months ago.

Less than 24 hours after the expulsion of 70 Russian diplomats, BSP leader Kornelia Ninova announced that the Bulgarian Socialist Party has suspended all negotiations with "We Continue the Change" to form a cabinet.

Bulgarian outgoing Prime Minister Kiril Petkov greets his supporters after the no-confidence vote ousts his government in front of parliament in Sofia, 22 June 2022. Photo: EPA-EFE/VASSIL DONEV

"Most of these people were working directly for foreign services and their diplomatic role was only a cover-up", Petkov said on Tuesday evening.

Representatives of the BSP parliamentary group will not go to the president's consultations before being given a mandate to form a new government. The consultations with the Bulgarian Socialist Party were scheduled for 4.45 p.m. today.

The reason for their inability to attend is the discussion of the budget in the budget committee.