Bulgaria’s Prime Minister announced serious changes to his government on July 23, removing four ministers and changing the position of a fifth in an attempt to calm down political tensions and end mass protests in the country.

A government reshuffle was announced earlier in July but was delayed by a week as Borissov said he would wait for the July 21 no-confidence vote and then talk to his coalition partners. The vote failed as expected as the ruling Gerb party has enough support in parliament from its own MPs and coalition partners.

However, analysts say the reshuffle comes too late and will not satisfy protesters who have been taking to the streets of the capital Sofia and several other towns for two weeks, demanding the resignations of the whole government and of chief prosecutor Ivan Geshev.

On July 23, Borissov announced that the ministers of finance, economy, internal affairs and tourism will be removed, while Kiril Ananiev will be moved from the health ministry to become the new finance minister. Ananiev will be replaced by Professor Kostadin Angelov, the current director of the university hospital Aleksandrovska. Ananiev was deputy-finance minister in several previous governments and a finance minister in the interim government headed by Ognyan Gerdzhikov after Borissov's last resignation.

A week earlier, Borissov demanded the resignations of Finance Minister Vladislav Goranov, Economy Minister Emil Karanikolov and Interior Minister Mladen Marinov over allegations of their connections with key figures from the opposition ethnic-Turk Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS) – the party’s chairman of honour Ahmed Dogan and the controversial businessman and DPS MP Delyan Peevski.

The DPS, which is formally in opposition, has become a symbol of corruption since Dogan said during an election campaign in 2009 that he was the person “distributing the portions of financing in the country”. Dogan has openly admitted being behind all major political appointments in the country. The party’s MPs include Peevski, who has been accused of gaining billions through corrupt deals.

The DPS is said to be unofficially supporting Gerb’s current government, while the cabinet has been accused many times of changing legislation to serve the interests of the DPS.

At a press conference announcing the government reshuffle, Borissov avoided answering directly whether the ministers are being removed in an attempt to distance his government from the DPS. He said that Marinov has to resign due to police violence during the second day of protests when several people were brutally beaten by policemen while handcuffed and not resisting. He will be replaced by the current head of the police, Hristo Terziyski.

Borissov said that Goranov is being replaced over suspicions related to lowered control of the work of the gambling committee that allowed a fugitive gambling mogul to avoid paying millions in taxes.

Karanikolov was dismissed over rumours about bonuses paid in the economy ministry and grants provided by the ministry, Borissov said but gave no further details. He did not explain the reasons for the other changes in his government. Karanikolov will be replaced by his current deputy Latchezar Borissov (no relation to the prime minister).

Tourism Minister Nikolina Angelkova will be replaced by current Deputy Prime Minister without portfolio Miryana Nikolova who is believed to be very close to Valeri Simeonov, the leader of one of Gerb’s junior coalition partners, the far-right National Front for Salvation of Bulgaria (NFSB).

Old-new faces trying to save sinking Titanic

The government reshuffle provoked mixed reactions, with many people commenting that Borissov is trying to save the sinking Titanic, attempting to present old faces as new ones. Moreover, there were many comments on social media that the changes will not calm down the situation as this is not the first time the prime minister has changed ministers and pledged improvements. 

Before the current reshuffles, Borissov replaced nine ministers in his current government after various political scandals.

“Reshuffle of chairs on Titanic’s deck. This is the “deep change”, served today. The only political fact is that Borissov has admitted the dependence of his cabinet on Peevski, trying to hide it, as well as his status of hostage of the Serai [the word referring to Dogan’s luxury residences from where he is accused of ruling all state institutions unofficially] who is afraid to go to election before “programming” the theft of the European funds from the new budget,” Hristo Ivanov, one of the leaders of the non-parliamentary Democratic Bulgaria, wrote on Facebook.

In an interview with bTV, Ivanov said that the new ministers are also related to the DPS. He said that Terziyski personally managed the tense situation when Democratic Bulgaria organised a mass visit to the beach near Dogan’s villa. Moreover, according to Ivanov, Terziyski intended to provoke tensions. At the time, there were accusations that the police had allowed supporters of the DPS to be brought from several towns to prevent Ivanov’s people from getting to the beach.

Latchezar Borissov, who is becoming the new economy minister, was responsible for a significant scandal involving a highly controversial loan provided by the state-owned Bulgarian Development Bank (BDB) to an unknown firm with a tiny income and a zero profit. At the time, Borissov was a member of the BDB’s supervisory board and has agreed on the BGN75mn (€38.4mn) loan, which led to the dismissal of the BDB’s then director, Stoyan Mavrodiev. Ivanov claims the loan was provided to a company related to Peevski.

The new health minister Angelov is known for an interview with a local media outlet in which he glorified Peevski as a major donor to the healthcare system.

Meanwhile, Borissov pledged new government measures aimed at supporting the economy through the coronacrisis. The government has faced strong criticism that the measures it has taken so far were insufficient and ineffective.

He also said that the government intends to complete its full mandate but that he would not run for prime minister again after that. Borissov is now leading his third government and has been in power for 11 years. He resigned before the end of his mandate the previous two times. The resignations were seen as aimed at securing him more votes in the next election.