Bulgaria elects a new prime minister: What this means for the country and the Western Balkans
Bulgaria’s parliament on Monday formally approved the country’s new centrist-led government in a bid to restore stability, tackle the coronavirus crisis, and spur economic development in the country. Lawmakers voted 134-104 to elect 41-year-old Kiril Petkov as prime minister. Petkov, a Harvard educated entrepreneur, has made transparency in public spending, tackling corruption, and reforms in the judiciary central to his agenda. He also signalled that Bulgaria will end its obstruction of North Macedonia’s bid to join the EU once his new government takes office in the coming weeks, a move that would have a broader impact in the Western Balkans. Expert Dimitar Bechev joins The Greek Current to discuss the latest political developments in Bulgaria and look at how they could impact the region.
Dimitar Bechev is a visiting scholar at Carnegie Europe and a lecturer at Oxford University’s School of Global and Area Studies.
You can read the articles we discuss on our podcast here:
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