Bulgaria’s parliament on May 8 approved a new government led by Rumen Radev, formally swearing in the former president as prime minister after his party’s decisive election victory last month.

Lawmakers backed the cabinet with 122 votes in favour, 70 against and 36 abstentions, handing power to Radev’s Progressive Bulgaria, which secured 131 seats in the 240-member parliament in April 19 snap elections - the first outright majority in decades.

The National Assembly also approved the structure and composition of the Council of Ministers, which includes four deputy prime ministers and 18 ministers. The government will rule without coalition partners but has said it will seek “constructive participation” from opposition parties.

Radev, who returned a completed mandate to President Iliana Yotova on May 7, said his cabinet would move quickly to tackle rising prices, reform the judiciary and stabilise public finances.

“We will not waste a minute. Our country is facing extremely difficult problems,” a senior lawmaker from Progressive Bulgaria, Konstantin Prodanov, told parliament during the debate.

The new prime minister said draft legislation would be introduced as early as next week to address soaring inflation.

Among the cabinet’s key figures are Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Galab Donev and Deputy Prime Minister and Economy Minister Alexander Pulev, alongside deputies Ivo Hristov and Atanas Pekanov.

Several ministers previously served in Radev’s caretaker administrations, while others have been linked to past nominations by rival parties.

The government’s immediate priorities include restructuring budget spending, unlocking delayed payments under the European Union’s Recovery and Resilience Plan and potentially issuing new debt to fund social spending and pensions.

Radev said judicial reform would be addressed early in the mandate, arguing that amendments must precede the appointment of a new Supreme Judicial Council to avoid repeating past governance failures.

On public finances, he pledged an “end to voluntarism”, adding that new borrowing was likely but the scale would be determined after a review of the state’s finances.

A survey by Measure polling agency published on May 8 showed Bulgarians expect the new government to focus on passing a budget, curbing price growth and revising the previous political model.