EU-skeptic Rumen Radev named new Bulgarian prime minister

Hind Al Soulia - Riyadh - SOFIA — Rumen Radev, who was named Bulgaria's new prime minister on Thursday after winning parliamentary elections last month,has promised to bring down prices and restore stability in the country.

Radev stepped down from Bulgaria's largely ceremonial presidency in January to run in the election after protests over corruption and rising living costs forced out the previous government in ⁠December.

The former fighter pilot's Progressive Bulgaria party won 44.6% of the vote in the parliamentary election on April 19, giving it a majority of seats in the 240-seat legislature.

His landslide win in last month's parliamentary election raises hopes for a stable government in the Balkan nation, which has seen eight elections in the space of five years.

Progressive Bulgaria's victory, the single biggest vote haul in a generation, will enable him to lead Bulgaria's first single-party government in nearly three decades.

Radev named a new cabinet after President Iliana Iotova gave him the mandate to form a government after mass ‌protests toppled the previous one.

Velislava Petrova-Chamova and Galab Donev, who was the caretaker prime minister in 2022-2023, will take over as the foreign and finance ministers in the new cabinet, which will have to swiftly pass a new budget, set a debt ceiling to ensure payments for pensions and salaries and try to secure EU funds.

The ⁠cabinet is expected to be approved by parliament on Friday.

"We will reverse the trend of skyrocketing prices, restore stability with a new Supreme Judicial Council and its inspectorate," Radev said on Thursday.

"We will absorb the ‌payments ⁠due to us under the Recovery and Resilience Plan," Radev added, referring to hundreds of millions of euros withheld by the European Commission primarily due to delayed anti-corruption legislation and judicial reforms regarding the Prosecutor General.

Voters, analysts and diplomats are also waiting to see how pro-Russian a Radev government will be. In a final campaign rally, he displayed ⁠photos on a big screen of himself with world leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Radev's party officials have dismissed fears of any extreme foreign policy turns.

Radev ran on a ticket focused on fighting corruption and “cleaning up” what he described as Bulgaria’s “oligarchic model”. Radev is a staunch EU critic, and has campaigned on resuming dialogue with Russia.

“(Through the vote, Bulgarians) confirmed their desire for stable institutions and for the defence of freedom, democracy and justice," said Radev after receiving the mandate to govern.

Radev inherits a series of challengese, including drafting a 2026 budget, addressing rising inflation and reforming a paralyzed judicial system.

He must also undertake a series of reforms, particularly against corruption, to unlock nearly €400 million in funds from the European Union.

The poor Balkan nation of 6.5 million people has been plagued with political crises since anti-corruption rallies rocked the country in 2021, bringing down the conservative administration of long-time pro-European leader Boyko Borissov.

The latest conservative-backed government resigned last year after a series of anti-graft protests, which Radev supported. Bulgaria ranks as the EU's most corrupt country alongside Hungary in Transparency International's corruption perception index.