By Edward McAllister

Dec 11 (Reuters) – The resignation of Bulgaria’s government on Thursday puts an end to an increasingly unpopular coalition but is likely to usher in a period of prolonged political instability on the eve of the Black Sea nation’s entry into the euro zone.

The European Union and NATO member state has held seven national elections in the past four years as consecutive governments failed to keep ‍control of a fractured parliament.

The outgoing government, in power since January, had looked set to oversee the transition to the euro on January 1, but Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov handed in his government’s resignation after weeks of street protests against state corruption and a new budget that would have increased taxes.

Even Bulgaria’s largely ceremonial head of sta

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