Bulgaria lawmakers approve new centrist-led govt

Bulgaria’s parliament formally approved the country’s new centrist-led government on Monday in a bid to restore stability, tackle the coronavirus crisis and spur economic development in the poorest EU member country. Lawmakers voted 134-104 to elect 41-year-old Kiril Petkov as prime minister.

Petkov, a Harvard-educated entrepreneur who served as minister of economics in the previous caretaker Cabinet, announced that transparency in public spending, zero tolerance for corruption and reforms in the judiciary will be the keystones of his government program. He also pledged to keep Bulgaria on a pro-European and pro-NATO track.