Bulgaria’s Radev opts for cabinet of loyal allies with different geopolitical orientations

Former president Rumen Radev, who won a mandate to govern Bulgaria with a full parliamentary majority for the next four years, has opted for a cabinet made up of loyal allies with differing geopolitical orientations, while also relying on little-known experts with unclear positions in key sectors such as justice.

On Thursday, Radev unveiled the composition of a government in which he is also the nominee for prime minister. He is expected to be approved by the 240-seat parliament as early as Friday, with his “Progressive Bulgaria” coalition holding a majority of 131 MPs.

“Bulgarian citizens have put an end to the political crisis by giving one political force a majority. No other government has been formed so quickly after elections,” Radev said while receiving the mandate from President Iliana Iotova, who until last month served as his vice-president.

He identified tackling inflation, judicial reform and the absorption of European funds as the government’s first priorities.

Following the strong election victory on 19 April, Radev’s “Progressive Bulgaria” coalition secured an absolute parliamentary majority of 131 seats, giving him freedom to govern alone and move quickly without the need for negotiations or bargaining with coalition partners.

Bulgaria’s Radev wins the snap parliamentary elections by landslide

Balancing the EU and Russia

The government will have four deputy prime ministers, with former MEP Ivo Hristov from the pro-Russian Bulgarian Socialist Party standing out as a deputy prime minister without a clearly defined portfolio.

Hristov is expected to shape the ideological direction of the government, and the influence of his pro-Russian views on Radev in recent years appears to have been significant. He is also known as the author of many of Radev’s speeches.

The former president is presenting Bulgarian society with a government that appears designed to maintain a geopolitical balance between East and West.

While Hristov is widely suspected of being one of the main ideologues behind Radev’s increasingly sceptical stance towards eurozone membership over the past year, another deputy prime minister, Atanas Pekanov, who will oversee EU funds, is openly pro-European.

Pekanov is not a member of any political party and did not run on the lists of “Progressive Bulgaria”. He served as deputy prime minister in four of the five caretaker governments appointed by Radev between 2021 and 2023.

Pekanov is considered the architect of Bulgaria’s Recovery and Resilience Plan, which includes commitments to major anti-corruption reforms. Bulgaria has fallen behind in absorbing the funds and hopes to secure at least another €2 billion by the end of the year, unless the money is lost.

Galab Donev, who served as Radev’s right-hand man during the management of the country in 2022-23, will become deputy prime minister and finance minister. Donev twice served as caretaker prime minister and before that held the positions of labour minister and deputy prime minister in caretaker governments appointed by Radev.

The fourth deputy prime minister will be Alexander Pulev, who will also serve as minister of economy, investment and industry. Pulev was minister of innovation and growth in two caretaker governments. He holds a master’s degree in finance from the University of Oxford and a bachelor’s degree in information systems and finance from the University of Maine in the United States.

Fight against corruption

The Bulgarian government is placing significant emphasis on Ivan Demerdzhiev as interior minister in charge of combating corruption and organised crime. He is a lawyer and former justice and interior minister in Radev-appointed caretaker governments, known for his outspoken criticism of problems within Bulgaria’s judicial system.

While Demerdzhiev has well-known positions and a widely recognised public profile, Radev has chosen to entrust the symbolic position of justice minister to a largely unknown figure with an unusual professional background – Nikolay Naydenov.

Naydenov is a lawyer and relatively obscure second-tier government official, and little is known about his views on judicial reform. Three years ago, he briefly served as deputy minister for social policy.

However, earlier periods of his career have raised concerns because of his time within the administrations of the discredited Supreme Judicial Council and the anti-corruption commission KPKONPI, institutions that Radev himself has repeatedly targeted for reform.

Low-profile foreign minister

The nomination of Velislava Petrova as foreign minister is also among the more surprising choices in Radev’s cabinet. Four years ago, Petrova was successively nominated for the posts of health minister and education minister in the two failed governments proposed by the populist party “There Is Such a People”, which has since been pushed out of parliament by voters.

The appointment of Velislava Petrova is also likely to reinforce expectations that Bulgaria will maintain a hard line towards North Macedonia, in line with the policy traditionally supported both by the populist “There Is Such a People” party and by Rumen Radev.

She later became deputy foreign minister with the backing of the same party and retained the position in Radev’s caretaker governments. Petrova is not a career diplomat but an immunologist who studied at the University of Bristol and the University of Cambridge in England.

Caption: Vice President Iliana Iotova handing the mandate to form a government to Rumen Radev, to whom she was Vice President, before he left office early to enter party politics and win a full majority in the parliamentary elections on 19 April./President’s Press Secretariat.

• Bulgaria
• Gorvernment
• Rumen Radev

Updated: May 7, 2026 - 20:50