Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov's government on Thursday survived a new no-confidence vote in parliament since it took office in July 2009. The vote was initiated by the opposition Socialist Party and deputies of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms of the Turkish minority after a critical European Union report on Bulgaria last week.
The motion failed in line with expectations, with 136 out of the 240 legislators voting against it. Seventy-two members of parliament voted against the government. Borisov's minority cabinet is run by his conservative GERB party, with the outside support of independent legislators. Thursday's vote was the fourth no-confidence motion the government survived. In addition, it passed a confidence motion, called by Borisov himself. Bulgaria has joined the EU in 2007, but has still not completed the required reforms and was particularly strongly criticised because of its inefficient and corrupt judicial system.