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

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

. Chaired by

prime minister A prime minister 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. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Kiril Petkov Kiril Petkov Petkov (; 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 Continue the Change, a political party he ...

, 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 repr ...

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, impresario of Baroque music and Roman Catholic priest. Regarded as one of the greatest Baroque composers, Vivaldi's influence during his lif ...

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! (), is a Bulgarian political party, founded in January 2017 by former Minister of Justice Hristo Ivanov. Yes, Bulgaria! is part of an electoral alliance with the Democrats for a Strong Bulgaria called Democratic Bulgaria. His ...

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

ITN Independent Television News (ITN) is a UK-based media production and broadcast journalism company. ITN is based in London, with bureaux and offices in Beijing, Brussels, Jerusalem, Johannesburg, New York City, New York, Paris, Sydney and Washin ...

and DSB, 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 formed in a parliamentary system when a political party or coalition of parties does not have a majority of overall seats in ...

on 8 June 2022, when

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 or vote of no confidence (or the inverse, a motion or vote of confidence) is a motion and corresponding vote thereon in a deliberative assembly (usually a legislative body) as to whether an officer (typically an executive) is deemed fit ...

. On 1 July, Bulgarian President

Rumen Radev Rumen Georgiev Radev (, born 18 June 1963) is a Bulgarian politician and former major general who has been the President of Bulgaria since 2017. Radev previously served as higher commander of the Bulgarian Air Force. He won the 2016 Bulgarian p ...

asked Asen Vasilev 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 (; born 1 March 1960) is a retired Bulgarian brigade general and politician who served as Prime Minister of Bulgaria in 2021, leading a caretaker government. A political independent, he also served as Minister of Defence i ...

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 (; born 18 October 1966), known as Slavi Trifonov (), is a Bulgarian TV host, tambourine and viola player, singer and politician. Trifonov is mainly active in the traditional Bulgarian folklore music genres, but he h ...

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 formed in a parliamentary system when a political party or coalition of parties does not have a majority of overall seats in ...

Removal

After

left the government,

GERB GERB, an acronym for Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (), is a conservative center-right populist political party which was the ruling party of Bulgaria during the periods between 2009–2013, 2014-2021, 2025-present and was suppor ...

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

Notes

References

{{EU governments 2021 in Bulgaria Bulgarian governments Cabinets established in 2021 2021 establishments in Bulgaria