Nieuwe regeringscoalitie in Bulgarije maakt einde aan stilstand in voorbereidingen toetreding (en)

Bulgaria's three main political parties have finally agreed to form a coalition ending a seven-week standoff that threatened to disrupt its planned membership of the EU at the beginning of 2007.

Socialist leader Sergey Stanishev will be the new prime minister, taking over from the ex-king, Simeon Saxe-Coburg.

Mr Saxe-Coburg's National Movement (NMS) was beaten in the June elections by the socialists, which got 31% of the vote.

The liberal, mainly ethnic-Turkish Rights and Freedoms party which came third in the June 25th general election, will also join the coalition along with Socialists and the National Movement.

Mr Stanishev said the coalition's priorities would be "European integration, social responsibility and economic growth", according to the BBC while Mr Saxe-Coburg said the deal "sent a very important signal to Brussels".

Sofia still has to carry out a number of reforms before it becomes a member of the 25-nation bloc, and commentators had speculated whether the delay in forming the government could affect the pace of reforms.

Both Bulgaria and Romania are due to join the EU in 2007, but the bloc reserves the right to delay membership for either of the two countries for one year if it believes asked-for changes have not been carried out.