Bulgarian cabinet survives sixth no-confidence vote

31/07/2008

SOFIA, Bulgaria -- The government easily survived a no-confidence vote Wednesday (July 30th) over its alleged failure to meet EU criteria and effectively manage EU funding. The motion, the sixth filed against Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev's cabinet since it took office in 2005, needed at least 121 votes to succeed. It got only 84 votes. Five right-wing opposition parties and 13 independent lawmakers sought the government's resignation following a European Commission monitoring report on Bulgaria last week. The document harshly criticised the country for failing to tackle high-level corruption and organised crime. It also confirmed the freezing of over 800m euros in aid. (BTA, Dnevnik, BNT, BNR, Focus, Mediapool, Darik - 30/07/08)