Bulgarian lawmakers voted 123 to 116 in favor of ousting Prime Minister Kiril Petkov, a reformer who vowed to tackle corruption and took a hard line against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Petkov was prime minister for six months. Petkov voted against a dispute over a plan to withdraw Bulgaria’s veto on starting EU accession talks with northern Macedonia, as well as over budget disputes. The county is probably headed for the fourth election since April last year. The impeachment vote is a blow to EU leaders, who are due to convene in Brussels on Thursday to try to revitalize the enlargement process in the Western Balkans. Earlier Wednesday, Bulgaria’s main opposition party said it would support lifting the country’s veto in northern Macedonia’s talks with the EU. despite first vetoing it three years ago in a controversy over Skopje’s interpretation of Balkan history. Despite the sudden change, GERB also filed a motion of censure against the government. Petkov’s allies suspected that Borisov’s change in the course of Northern Macedonia’s accession to the EU – which remains unpopular in Bulgaria – was a political trap. European officials fear that the continued delay in EU enlargement could create political instability in the Western Balkans and lead to frustration with Brussels’ ratification of the region’s western orientation, which could be exploited by Russia. Petkov had backed EU sanctions against Moscow and fired his defense minister after refusing to describe the Russian invasion as a “war”. The lifting of the veto in the talks with Northern Macedonia would also have unlocked the negotiations with Albania. The accession applications of the two countries have been linked by the EU. The former is a candidate country since 2005 without any progress in the accession talks despite meeting many of the bloc’s membership requirements, mainly due to objections to the expressions of national identity of the former Yugoslav Republic first from Greece and then Bulgaria.

The EU’s broader approach to eastern expansion has changed since Putin’s full invasion of Ukraine began in February, after years of resistance to potential new members. The bloc is set to agree to make Ukraine and Moldova official candidate countries this week, as part of a new effort to unblock the stalled process in the Western Balkans. Petkov was poised to reach an agreement with Skopje unlocking the talks when one of his coalition parties left in protest earlier this month, leaving him with less than a majority. Petkov could try to form a new majority. If it fails, which seems likely, it will be up to GERB to try, although it is still considered toxic by the other parties given the widespread corruption when it came to power. In the meantime, the implementation of Northern Macedonia will remain frozen. Following hopes for a possible breakthrough earlier, Northern Macedonia, Albania and Serbia said they would attend a summit in Brussels on Thursday with EU leaders. They had threatened not to attend the meeting on Bulgaria’s position.