Bulgaria

Kiril Petkov, left, and Assen Vassilev, co-leaders of the We Continue the Change party, celebrate their victory in Bulgaria's parliamentary elections in Sofia on Nov. 14. The newly founded anti-corruption party won the most seats in Bulgaria's parliamentary election on Sunday. (AP Photo/Valentina Petrova)

EuropaUnión Europea,

“Change Continues” is not only the name of the winner of Sunday’s parliamentary elections in Bulgaria, but also a fitting description of a country that has held three elections with three different winners in the last seven months.

Why the electoral churn, and what happens now? First, an inconclusive election in April resulted in an impasse and a caretaker government assembled by the president. Another inconclusive election in July and another caretaker government then led to elections in November.

The winner of the Nov. 14 election, a party founded less than two months ago by two business executives who loudly proclaim their Harvard credentials, is the latest in a string of new parties that have periodically erupted in Bulgaria over the last 20 years.…  Seguir leyendo »

Deputies vote with raised hands during the first session of a newly elected parliament in Sofia, Bulgaria, on April 15. The Bulgarian parliament has been constituted with six parties, no easy combination of majorities and a prospect of new elections. (Vassil Donev/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)

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Bulgaria’s new legislature has six parties and coalitions — and keeps falling short on efforts to form a government. After the April 4 parliamentary elections, no party or coalition could claim 121 of 240 total seats, the parliamentary majority needed to move forward.

Outgoing Prime Minister Boyko Borisov’s pro-E.U., pro-Western, center-right party GERB and its coalition partner UDF won the most seats (75) but lack other parties’ support. GERB-UDF had the first chance to form a new government, then officially gave up on April 23.

Next up was Slavi Trifonov, a popular talk show host and musician with no governing experience, whose “There Is Such a People” (TISP) party received the second-highest number of seats (51).…  Seguir leyendo »

People wait as a woman casts her vote at a polling station during Bulgaria's parliamentary election in Sofia on April 4. (Nikolay Doychinov/AFP/Getty Images)

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It’s still “hurricane season” in European party politics. In Bulgaria’s April 4 parliamentary elections, a quarter of voters backed Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria, the center-right party of Prime Minister Boyko Borissov that is commonly known as GERB. But new parties that campaigned with an anti-corruption message did unexpectedly well, which means Borissov has no clear pathway to form a governing coalition. Two scenarios seem likely — a coalition of the newcomers or a caretaker government and early elections.

Here are four main takeaways.

Even a strong political record doesn’t mean a candidate is unassailable

Borissov has won every single election since 2007 and has served as prime minister for much of the past decade.…  Seguir leyendo »

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Since July, Bulgarians have been protesting government corruption almost daily. The latest such protest took place on Dec. 14, also marking the 31-year anniversary since the first major anti-communist protest in Bulgaria in 1989.

But the current cabinet — a coalition between Boyko Borisov’s pro-European Union, center-right party GERB (Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria) and a group of far-right nationalist parties — has survived and will probably do so until the March elections. Why?

First, the government has been waiting for the protests to wane, knowing elections are scheduled for March 28, 2021. Second, polls predict parliament will continue to be split among several parties — with no clear alternative to the existing cabinet coalition.…  Seguir leyendo »

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In January, Bulgaria, the poorest and most unequal country in the European Union, assumed the six-month rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union, the forum where ministers of all 28 E.U. member states meet to adopt laws and coordinate policies.

While the presidency of the council has seen its role diminish, it still provides incumbent states with opportunities to promote their national interests and achieve decision outcomes close to their preferences. So how did Bulgaria do?

Led by a coalition of the center-right GERB party and the far-right United Patriots, Bulgaria’s E.U. goals were ambitious: to advance the integration of the Western Balkans, renew the country’s bids to join the Schengen area and the euro zone, and to promote security, solidarity and stability across the European Union.…  Seguir leyendo »

La célèbre vache Penka ne sera finalement pas abattue par les autorités bulgares. © Hristo Vladev / AFP / FOUR PAWS FOUNDATION

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En à peine un mois, la courte liste des personnalités bulgares mondialement connues s’est enrichie d’une nouvelle entrée. Mais il s’agit d’un bovidé: la vache Penka. Sa saga commence le 12 mai dernier lorsque l’animal a décidé, pour une raison qui reste à déterminer, de traverser la frontière avec la Serbie, quittant ainsi son pays natal mais aussi l’Union européenne, dont la Bulgarie est membre depuis 2007.

Recueillie par des fermiers locaux, Penka – un prénom qui sonne aux oreilles des Bulgares un peu comme celui de Simone aux francophones – a été rendue à son propriétaire après deux semaines de fugue, et c’est là que ses problèmes ont commencé.…  Seguir leyendo »

A worker attaches barbed wire to a border fence to prevent illegal crossings by migrants at the Bulgarian-Turkish border in March 2016. (Dimitar Dilkoff/Agence France-Presse via Getty Images)

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Bulgarian legislators are gearing up to form a new government, following the March 26 parliamentary election, the third since 2013. Five parties made it into the National Assembly, but none of them won the minimum 121 out of 240 seats to claim a majority in the unicameral legislature.

Here is what happens next. Boyko Borisov's center-right, pro-EU party, GERB (Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria) won 95 seats. President Rumen Radev is expected to officially grant Borisov the right to form a government later this week.

This will be Borisov's third and most challenging term as prime minister. GERB decided to partner with the United Patriots (UP), a coalition of three nationalist, far-right parties that won 27 seats.…  Seguir leyendo »

Rumen Radev after a press conference in Sofia, Bulgaria, in November. Nikolay Doychinov/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

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Being Bulgarian, I can tell you that international news media cover elections in small European countries the same way a literature professor reads a spy novel during a summer holiday: It’s a pleasant diversion, but one quickly forgets the characters, and it doesn’t really matter if the narrative gets scrambled. Normally, this is not a problem, but it can become one next year.

In 2017 there will be elections not only in Germany, France and the Netherlands but also most likely in Greece, Italy and, again, Bulgaria. This will be a moment of truth for Europe. Social media is being invaded by fake news and conspiracy theories, while mainstream outlets are obsessed with the Kremlin’s interference in the electoral politics of Western democracies.…  Seguir leyendo »

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On Tuesday the Bulgarian capital, Sofia, witnessed a night of violence. After 40 days of protest the National Assembly was besieged amid demands that the government resign, and police stormed the peaceful crowd. A bus full of MPs trying to get away was surrounded and its windows broken, and scores of people were wounded. The next day Mihail Mikov, chair of parliament, said that "looking for solutions within the constitution becomes increasingly difficult".

A brief look back can explain why. The collapse of Bulgaria's centre-right government in February following protests against rising electricity bills led to early elections in May. These produced a coalition of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) and the Movement for Rights and Liberties – the party supported by the Turkish minority in Bulgaria – under the prime minister, Plamen Oresharski.…  Seguir leyendo »

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Most people see Europe’s economic crisis as a cautionary tale of good and bad policy making, in which fiscally prudent countries, such as Germany, remain stable, while reckless ones, such as Greece, unravel.

So ingrained is this idea that it’s now common to hear analysts say Europe must become “German” to exit from the crisis, adopting Teutonic approaches to policy -- from fiscal tightening to labor- and product-market reforms. If only societies on Europe’s periphery can learn to do what the Germans do, the argument goes, the European Union and its single currency will have a stable future.

This is wrong and we already have evidence to show it.…  Seguir leyendo »

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On Feb. 5, after more than six months of investigations, the Bulgarian government announced that it believed Hezbollah was responsible for the attack last July that killed five Israeli tourists and a Bulgarian bus driver and injured dozens more in the resort town of Burgas. This report is significant because a European Union member state, Bulgaria, explicitly pointed a finger at Hezbollah and lifted the veil on the group’s continued terrorist activities. Europe can no longer ignore the threat that this group poses to the Continent and to the world.

The attack in Burgas was despicable. The Israeli tourists had just arrived at the city’s airport and were boarding a bus for the Black Sea coast.…  Seguir leyendo »

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Ever since the uprising in Egypt began on Jan. 25, I have hardly moved an inch away from the TV screen. I may be in France, but my spirit is in Tahrir Square. I’m throwing stones. I’m breathing in tear gas. I’m lighting up Molotov cocktails. I’m dodging bullets. I’m fighting thick-headed policemen. I’m cursing every symbol of the regime until my voice cracks.

Why? Because I’ve already done all that before, during the winter of 1989 and 1990, when an epidemic of indignation spread through Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, and then again in 1991 and 1997, when the Bulgarian Communist Party and its Gorgonian successor finally lost their suffocating grip on power.…  Seguir leyendo »

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Tema: Dos nuevos miembros ingresaron en la Unión Europea el 1 de enero de 2007. La pregunta es: ¿están preparados para serlo?

Resumen: Bulgaria y Rumanía ingresaron en la UE el 1 de enero de 2007. De esta forma se convirtieron en los miembros más recientes (el 26° y 27°) de la Unión. Han sido muchos los que se han mostrado preocupados, y con razón, del hecho de que la inclusión de tal cantidad de países pequeños, relativamente pobres y post-autocráticos, durante la quinta ronda de ampliaciones pueda suponer una carga demasiado pesada para la estructura institucional europea, aún sin reformar.…  Seguir leyendo »

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The long awaited and welcome accession of Bulgaria and Romania to the European Union has already had a nasty side-effect. It has made it possible for the extreme right to form its own group in the European parliament - giving its parties extra time and money - Identity, Tradition, Sovereignty.Jean-Marie Le Pen's National Front, formerly a vociferous opponent of the EU's enlargement, has delegated Bruno Gollnisch, a recidivist Holocaust denier, to head the group. He has received with open arms the five representatives of the Greater Romania party and Dimitar Stoyanov of the Bulgarian Ataka party, who had already made his debut in the European parliament commenting on the bodies and purchase price of Gypsy women.…  Seguir leyendo »

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En Bucarest y Sofía, entre fuegos artificiales, conciertos y actos solemnes en los que la bandera de la UE se izaba con honores militares, asistí, en uno de mis últimos actos oficiales como presidente del Parlamento Europeo, a las celebraciones del año nuevo en Europa. Y mañana daré la bienvenida en el pleno de Estrasburgo a los 53 nuevos eurodiputados. Con la adhesión de Rumanía y Bulgaria se cierra el proceso que se inició hace 17 años con la caída del muro de Berlín y que ha ampliado la UE hasta 27 miembros. Es la reunificación de un continente que ha superado la división de Yalta y la triste herencia de Hitler y Stalin.…  Seguir leyendo »

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Por Daniel Reboredo, historiador (EL CORREO DIGITAL, 14/06/06):

El pasado 16 de mayo, el Comisario para la Ampliación de la UE, el finlandés Olli Rehn, recomendó a la Comisión Europea aplazar la decisión sobre el ingreso de Bulgaria y Rumanía en la Unión hasta 2008, aún reconociendo los avances reales conseguidos por búlgaros y rumanos durante el último año, por no haber logrado cumplir todos los requisitos acordados en el Tratado de Adhesión de 25 de abril de 2005. El dictamen contrastaba con el informe preliminar que presentó a principios de abril, en el que veía factible la incorporación de ambos países el 1 de enero de 2007, ensalzaba el trabajo de Rumanía y planteaba la posibilidad de que la adhesión rumana se adelantara a la búlgara, tal y como preveía el artículo 43 del Tratado de Adhesión.…  Seguir leyendo »