BULGARIA: Bulgaria's Socialists began coalition talks yesterday with allies of defeated prime minister Simeon Saxe-Coburg, the former king, amid warnings from the EU that its membership application could be damaged by delays in forming a new government.
The Socialists won Saturday's general election with 31 per cent of votes, far fewer than expected. Mr Saxe-Coburg's party came second with 20 per cent, a dismal showing compared to his landslide victory in 2001 but more than polls had predicted.
The results forced the Socialists, who lost many potential votes to the nationalist Attack party, to consider a proposition they had flatly rejected before the election - an unlikely coalition with centre-right supporters of the former monarch.
Deputy leader Rumen Ovcharov said: "The priority for the Socialist Party is above all the forming of a stable government."
Having already secured the support of the third-placed Movement for Rights and Freedom, Mr Ovcharov admitted the Socialists saw little option but to bury the hatchet with the National Movement for Simeon II.
"I see no any other possible third coalition partner for forming a parliamentary majority but the MNSII," Mr Ovcharov said. "We have begun informal talks." But he drew the line at offering the former king - exiled by the communists at the age of eight and who spent most of his life in Spain - the premiership.
"It's not logical for him to lose elections and lead the government," said Mr Ovcharov. "We want [Socialist leader Sergey] Stanishev to become prime minister but we do not exclude another possibility."
Mr Stanishev, who is half-Russian and the son of a senior official from the communist era, has said he is willing to negotiate "with any democratic party". That appeared to be a jibe at the far-right Attack movement, which fought a campaign under the slogan "Bulgaria for the Bulgarians" and launched vitriolic attacks on the traditionally tolerant country's large Roma and ethnic-Turkish minorities.
Tapping into many people's disillusionment with chronic poverty and fears over the effects of EU membership, Attack claimed more than 8 per cent of votes, despite being formed only two months before the elections.
Its meteoric rise cannot have gone unnoticed in Brussels, but the EU warned yesterday only of the danger of a descent into political squabbling, at a time when the applications of Bulgaria and Romania to join in 2007 are under intense scrutiny.
"We call for a rapid formation of a new government so as to ensure timely continuation of reforms," said Krisztina Nagy, an EU spokeswoman. "The clock is ticking, every week and every month counts to be ready for the target date."
In Sofia yesterday few people seemed surprised by the deadlock, or the danger of falling behind on crucial EU reforms.
"They will make some kind of deal, but it will not benefit ordinary Bulgarians," said office worker Hristo Georgiev. "They are bothered about helping themselves and maybe getting us into the EU - even though we are not ready for it."
Mr Saxe-Coburg urged his nation of eight million to be patient with its politicians.
Analyst Kancho Stoichev said the former monarch still had a key role to play.
"All eyes are on Simeon," he said. "The Socialists won but he wants to be prime minister."