"Bulgaria needs a government more than ever," said Mariya Gabriel of GERB-SDS. The former European Commissioner is prime minister-designate under a power-sharing agreement (called "rotation") between the two main political coalitions in Parliament, GERB-SDS and PP-DB, under which each will hold the premiership for a period of nine months. 

"I have clearly demonstrated that in the last nine months I have worked to protect Bulgaria's interests. I led a team that had to show that Bulgaria should not go to new elections. That is why I proposed a Council of Ministers in which there is not a single unknown name. All the proposed ministers are people with parliamentary and managerial experience," she added. 

President Rumen Radev said that he would issue a decree today and send the proposed cabinet to the National Assembly for a vote.

The parliamentary group of We Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria (PP-DB) is meeting to discuss GERB's proposed government. Unofficial reports said that the names of ministerial candidates had not been agreed with the coalition. There was also no agreement on the signing of a coalition agreement, which had been under negotiation.

"We support the government proposed by GERB-SDS," said Delyan Peevski, leader of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF). He noted that Boyko Borissov, as leader of GERB, and Mariya Gabriel had acted responsibly on behalf of Bulgaria by returning the fulfilled exploratory mandate with the composition and structure of a rotating government. "By putting the national interest above party interests, they acted responsibly towards the people and the country, saving it from the timelessness of caretaker governments and the political crisis that we have seen in the last three years and which must never be repeated," Peevski said. 

"The bone of contention was the Ministries of Defence and Energy, the ministries where there are much more resources. This was the assessment of Hristo Prodanov, deputy leader of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) parliamentary group, at a briefing on the return of the GERB-SDS mandate.

The only right thing to do is to go to elections, Toshko Yordanov, leader of the "There is such a nation" (ITN) parliamentary group, told journalists.