1. That we have a government
   
2. That they are not too late it they get busy to finish the bill on judicial reform which is the biggest obstacle that we face on EU membership
   
3. They have outlined EU membership and social responsibility as priorities. This means that there will be more attention, we hope, paid to those who have not been doing well through the transition. The rise of the hard right has given an added urgency to address these frustrations of these people.
   
4. It's a pretty broad segment of society with a large majority (170 out of 240). This means that a few defections won't cost the government its majority.
   
5. A few good ministers in it. Two of my favorites are kept from the last government (Miglena Kuneva as Minister of European Integration and Nickolay Vassilev moves to Minister of Public Administration). Several others I do not know anything about.
   
6. EU accession demands will keep this government fairly responsible.

1. That we have a government
   
2. Many expect that this government will fall the day after Bulgaria enters the EU.
   
3. It would have been helpful if there could have been a Grand Coalition with the specific goal of getting us in the EU.
   
4. Some characters who have not been very socially responsible (in my view) are behind this project.

Some politicians openly speak of "democracy" as something akin to doing favors for your friends.

The right has begun the process of legitimizing the introduction of ethnic slurs and views into the national political discourse. Some see that it gets them votes. This is fairly new to Bulgarian politics.

Some voices on the right have begun to openly question the existence of a successful "Bulgarian ethnic model." This idea had dominated political discourse and helped to keep our politics different from that of the rest of the region.