BULGARIA: Bulgaria appears to be stumbling closer to snap elections and the possible postponement of EU entry in 2007, after the Socialist party rejected an offer from the Balkan nation's former king to create a coalition government.
The rebuff to Simeon Saxe-Coburg, whose party lost to the Socialists in a June 25th general election, left Bulgaria facing a seventh week without a government as a pile of EU-stipulated reforms mounts up and floods continue to ravage parts of the country.
"The National Movement for Simeon II's evaluation of the political situation is not realistic and does not meet the expectations of the people," said Sergey Stanishev, the Socialist leader.
"We have been led into a dead-end street by the MNSII. Quick action is needed to . . . form a government. The other option is a power vacuum and early elections, which means economic and political crisis."
The Socialists had been expected to scuttle Mr Saxe-Coburg's bid to form an alliance, after he infuriated them by withdrawing at the last moment from a deal which would have seen the two biggest parties form a grand coalition with the centrist Movement for Rights and Freedom, which came third in the June election. That historic deal would have pleased Brussels by showing the willingness of Bulgaria's leaders to put the country's beleaguered EU bid above any personal ambition.
But the depth of bad blood between the Socialists and Mr Saxe-Coburg - who became prime minister in 2001 after decades in exile - complicates talks over a coalition and could undermine any governing alliance.
However, as Bulgaria struggles to meet the EU's demands and find €200 million to clear up after two months of devastating floods, Mr Stanishev said he was willing to compromise should the president give him another chance to form a cabinet. "The best option would be a broad-based - at least trilateral - coalition," he said.
