LJUBLJANA: Slovenia's centre-left prime minister designate Alenka Bratusek said Wednesday she had reached an agreement to form a coalition government with three other parties.
"The political crisis in our state is obviously over," Bratusek, who will be the first woman to hold the post, told journalists after a council of her Positive Slovenia party (PS) agreed to sign the coalition agreement with three other parties, giving them a parliamentary majority.
"I promise a period of collaboration, negotiations and searching for positive solutions will begin today."
The new four-party coalition brings her Positive Slovenia party (PS) together with the fellow centre-left Social Democrats (SD) and two former partners in the outgoing centre-right government, pensioners' party DESUS and the centre-right Civil List (DL).
Last month, the Slovenian parliament gave Bratusek the mandate to form a new government to take over from outgoing centre-right prime minister Janez Jansa, accused of corruption by the eurozone country's anti-graft watchdog.
Bratusek has to present her list of ministers by Thursday. A vote on her cabinet is expected to take place next Wednesday.
Bratusek's four-party coalition will hold a total of 49 seats in the 90-seat parliament.
The DL, the first partner to quit Jansa's coalition, was the last to decide whether to join Bratusek's coalition.
"The DL has decided to join the government coalition," DL leader Gregor Virant told journalists late Wednesday after a meeting of the party's council.
"We've been dealing with the crisis for two months and it is high time that we started working," he added.
<Center><b><i>Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2013</b></i></center>
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