THE PRIME MINISTER STANISHEV RECEIVED EC SUPPORT FOR CABINET CHANGES

The Bulgarian Prime Minister Sergey Stanishev informed the President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso in a telephone conversation about the structural and personal changes in the government which were approved by the Parliament in the end of last week, the government's press service announced. The EC President has stated that Bulgaria needed strong, proactive and reformist government.                                                                         

The special focus of the conversation was on the functions of the newly appointed Deputy Prime Minister who is in charge of monitoring and coordinating the absorption of EU funding, as well as on the upcoming reforms in the Ministry of Interior.
Barroso has supported the establishment of the new Deputy PM position. Sergey Stanishev declared he viewed the clear definition of the functions of the new Deputy PM as especially important. In his opinion the Deputy PM should rely on a strong team of experts and receive the functions of a national coordinator on EU funding. In the coming days Meglena Plugchieva, the new Deputy PM, is going to visit Brussels in order to meet all EU Commissioners engaged in the funding that Bulgaria receives from the structure and cohesion funds.

The Bulgarian Prime Minister is expected to sign today the dismissal letters of 15 Deputy Ministers, Trud newspaper announced. According to the publication NDSV /National Movement for Stability and Progress/ is going to lose 6 of its Deputy Ministers - Milena Paunova /Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works/, Evgenia Koldanova /Ministry of Foreign Affairs/, Ekaterina Vitkova /Ministry of Education and Science/, Ivanka Hristova /Ministry of Labour and Social Policy/, Lachezar Borisov /Ministry of Economy and Energy/, and Atanas Dodov /Ministry of Health/.

The former Deputy Minister in the Ministry of Defense Sonya Yankulova will become deputy of Mihail Mikov, the newly appointed Minister of Interior.Yankulova will replace Tsonko Kirov, also from NDSV, who recently resigned.

BSP /Bulgarian Socialist Party/ will part from the largest number of deputy ministers. Besides Kamen Penkov /Ministry of Interior/, Vanya Dobreva /Ministry of Education and Science/, Jordan Dimov /Ministry of Environment and Water/ and Simeon Nikolov /Ministry of Defense/ will be replaced as well. DPS /Movement for Rights and Freedoms/ gives up only one Deputy Minister - Jordan Dardov from the Ministry of Environment and Water.

After the meeting of the Political Council of the Triple Coalition the leaders of BSP /Bulgarian Socialist Party/, NDSV /National Movement for Stability and Progress/ and DPS /Movement for Rights and Freedoms/- Sergey Stanishev, Simeon Saxkoburggotski and Ahmed Dogan, replaced four ministers and appointed new Deputy Prime Minister. The changes were adopted by the Parliament on April 24.