The Petkov Government, known as the Four-party coalition cabinet, was the ninety-sixth cabinet of

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

. Chaired by

prime minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Kiril Petkov Kiril Petkov Petkov ( bg, Кирил Петков Петков; born 17 April 1980) is a Bulgarian politician, economist, and entrepreneur, who served as Prime Minister of Bulgaria from December 2021 to August 2022. He is the co-leader of We ...

, it was approved by the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repre ...

on 13 December 2021 after the government formation as a result of the November 2021 parliamentary election. It was a so-called Vivaldi coalition, named after composer

Antonio Vivaldi Antonio Lucio Vivaldi (4 March 1678 – 28 July 1741) was an Italian composer, virtuoso violinist and impresario of Baroque music. Regarded as one of the greatest Baroque composers, Vivaldi's influence during his lifetime was widespread a ...

due to his work The Four Seasons which corresponds to the different political views present in this coalition: liberals ( PP and

Yes, Bulgaria! Yes, Bulgaria! ( bg, Да, България!, translit=Da, Balgariya!), is a Bulgarian political party, founded in January 2017 by former Minister of Justice Hristo Ivanov. Yes, Bulgaria! is part of a coalition with Democrats for a Strong Bulga ...

, as part of DB), socialists ( BSP), greens ( ZD, as part of DB) and conservatives ( ITN and

DSB DSB may refer to: Science, technology and devices * DsbA, a bacterial member of the Dsb (disulfide bond) family of enzymes * Double strand break, a break in both DNA strands, part of DNA repair * in telecommunications, double-sideband transmission ...

, as part of DB). The government became a

Minority government A minority government, minority cabinet, minority administration, or a minority parliament is a government and Cabinet (government), cabinet formed in a parliamentary system when a political party or Coalition government, coalition of parties do ...

on 8 June 2022, when ITN pulled out of the government, and its mandate ended in late June 2022. It was the first government in Bulgarian history to lose a

vote of confidence A motion of no confidence, also variously called a vote of no confidence, no-confidence motion, motion of confidence, or vote of confidence, is a statement or vote about whether a person in a position of responsibility like in government or mana ...

. On 1 July, Bulgarian President

Rumen Radev Rumen Georgiev Radev ( bg, Румен Георгиев Радев ; born 18 June 1963) is a Bulgarian politician and former major general who is the current president of Bulgaria since 22 January 2017. Radev previously served as higher command ...

asked

Asen Vasilev Asen Vaskov Vasilev ( bg, Асен Васков Василев; born 9 September 1977) is a Bulgarian politician, economist, and entrepreneur who is the current Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance since 13 December 2021. He is the co-l ...

to form a new government, which Vasilev failed to do and new elections were scheduled to take place.

Cabinet

Changes

From 1 March 2022

On 1 March 2022 the defence minister

Stefan Yanev Stefan Dinchev Yanev ( bg, Стефан Динчев Янев) is a retired Bulgarian Army Brigade general and a politician. He was from 12 May to 13 December 2021 acting deputy prime minister, acting minister of defense and caretaker government ...

resigned and his resignation was approved by the

. Dragomir Zakov was appointed as the new defence minister.

From June 2022

On 8 June the leader of ITN

Slavi Trifonov Stanislav Todorov Trifonov ( bg, Станислав Тодоров Трифонов; born 18 October 1966), known as Slavi Trifonov ( bg, Слави Трифонов), is a Bulgarian TV host, musician and politician. Trifonov is mainly active i ...

aired a television announcement that his party is leaving the coalition, and thus turning the Petkov Government into a

minority government A minority government, minority cabinet, minority administration, or a minority parliament is a government and Cabinet (government), cabinet formed in a parliamentary system when a political party or Coalition government, coalition of parties do ...

Removal

After ITN left the government,

GERB GERB ( bg, ГЕРБ, translation=coat of arms, acronym for Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria) is a conservative, populist political party which was the ruling party of Bulgaria between 2009 and 2021. History GERB is headed by for ...

tabled a vote of no confidence in the government, which was scheduled for 22 June 2022. 6 ITN deputies left the party to support the government. Several rallies in support of the government, as well as protests against it were held in the days coming up to the vote. On 22 June, the vote was held, with 123 votes against the government and 116 for it. All three remaining parties in the coalition, the six ITN defectors, and by mistake one

DPS DPS may refer to: Schools United States * Dalton Public Schools, the public school district in Dalton, Georgia * Dearborn Public Schools, the public school district in Dearborn, Michigan * Decatur Public Schools District 61, the public school sys ...

MP voted for the government, with all other MPs voting against it.

Notes

References

2021 in Bulgaria Politics of Bulgaria Cabinets established in 2021 2021 establishments in Bulgaria {{Bulgaria-poli-stub