Bulgarian President Rumen Radev on Monday tasked Maria Gabriel, a former EU commissioner, with forming a new government under a rotation deal agreed with Nikolai Denkov, who resigned as prime minister a fortnight ago.
Gabriel, who served as Denkov's deputy, now has seven days to appoint a new cabinet. She is a member of the liberal-conservative GERB party.
Denkov, a pro-Western politician, is to serve as Gabriel's deputy.
While the two are seen as opposed to each other on many issues, they are united in supporting Ukraine in resisting the Russian invasion.
According to media reports, how ministerial posts will be distributed, the names of the new ministers and the signing of a joint document are potential points of conflict in discussions on a new cabinet between the two leaders.
If they succeed in forming a new pro-Western government, Bulgaria will avoid holding a sixth parliamentary election within three years.
