Galab Spasov Donev
Positions
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance since 8 May 2026: elected by the 52nd National Assembly (decision, State Gazette No. 43/2026).
Public record
Compiled from publications and official records as of 18.10.2026. Every statement links to its source; claims made by others are marked as such, with who makes them. Quotations in English are our translation.
Communist Party and State Security
- Appointees from the services. RFE/RL analysis, 2022: his caretaker cabinet replaced 25 of 28 regional governors and the heads of police, tax and customs; "nearly half of them are former cadres of the army, the Interior Ministry, DANS and even ... State Security" (our translation), two of them former staff collaborators of State Security (Angel Stoev in Plovdiv, Ognyan Mihaylov in Vidin). — RFE/RL, 16.08.2022
Russia
- Gazprom gas. As caretaker Prime Minister in 2022 he said Bulgaria had asked Gazprom Export to resume deliveries under the contract: "Bulgaria is not a supplicant" (our translation). — Dir.bg, 11.09.2022
- Lukoil. He attended, with Radev and Pulev, the meeting with the management of Litasco and Lukoil at the Council of Ministers on 30.06.2026. — Mediapool, 30.06.2026
Corruption and scandals
- Botaş. The Bulgargaz–Botaş agreement was signed on 3 January 2023 under his caretaker government; it obliges Bulgaria to pay Turkey about USD 500,000 a day in transit fees "whether gas is transported or not" (our translation), for 13 years. — RFE/RL, 11.03.2026 In April 2024 parliament sent the contract to the prosecutor's office and DANS on a temporary commission's report. — RFE/RL, 11.04.2024 No outcome has been reported.
- Guardrails. The DPS filed a complaint with the prosecutor's office that after an indexation method for public contracts adopted by the "Galab Donev 1" cabinet (decree of 27.09.2022), the price of guardrail contracts rose by over 160%; the winning firm was "Yupiter 05". — BTA, 02.10.2026; Club Z, 01.10.2026 Club Z writes that the latest guardrail contracts were signed under his two caretaker cabinets, which matches the contracts it holds. — Club Z, 30.06.2026
- Daskalov's dismissal. In October 2022, as caretaker Prime Minister, he dismissed the head of the food safety agency, Hristo Daskalov, one of the people who exposed the "Kapitan Andreevo" border scandal; Daskalov said he had just blocked an attempt to return a private firm to the border. The ministry cited a breach of the Electoral Code. — Mediapool, 05.10.2022
Sources: decision of the National Assembly of 08.05.2026; biography and photo: gov.bg (17.10.2026).
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