After the dissolution of the Soviet bloc
The dissolution of the Soviet bloc opened a complex phase of political change in Bulgaria Previously heavily dependent on the USSR both for commercial exchanges and for energy supply, Bulgaria was greatly affected by the crisis that Russia went through.post-Soviet era, the instability of the Balkan area and the relative ‘remoteness’ of Western Europe in which the country aspired to enter. The measures of privatization of state-owned companies and lands, market liberalization and reconversion of an obsolete industrial apparatus already oriented to the USSR needs, undertaken in the 1990s, suffered numerous arrests due to the very high social costs and the rapid deterioration of the conditions of life of the population. A serious political instability ensued, characterized by the alternation in the government of the socialists of the PSB (Bulgarian Socialist Party, heir to the old Communist Party), accused of wanting to restore the old order, and of the new democratic forces of opposition, divided internally and unable to proceed resolutely on the path of reforms. The failure of the PSB’s attempt to govern the restructuring of the economy led to the clear affirmation, in the political elections of 1997, of the opposition forces led by the leader of the UFD (Union of Democratic Forces) I. Kostov. The new head of the government accelerated the liberalization process, inter alia by adopting measures to facilitate foreign investment. Nonetheless, its centralizing policy and the emergence of corruption at the government level disappointed the electorate.
2001 saw the unexpected electoral success of the National Movement, founded by the former King Simeon of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, under whose leadership a composite coalition government was formed. In the same 2001 the presidential elections were won by G. Parvanov (re-elected in 2006), the first socialist to return to the top of the state since 1990. The victory of the PSB in the 2005 elections led to the head of the government S. Staniãev. Joined NATO in 2004, Bulgaria entered the European Union in January 2007. In 2009, the discontent caused by the serious economic crisis led to the electoral defeat of the Socialists and the victory of the conservative Citizens’ Party for European Development of Bulgaria (GERB), whose leader Bulgaria Borisov became Prime Minister, while at the presidential elections held inIn February 2013, the wave of protests unleashed over the sharp rise in the prices of energy resources forced Borisov to declare the resignation of the government ; the political consultations held in the following May, in which there was a very strong abstention, havea difficult governability situation was highlighted, with the conservative party at 31.4% and the socialist party at 27.3%. Two weeks before the elections, thanks to an agreement between the socialist party and the Turkish minority party Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS), a new executive was formed and P. Oreşarski elected as prime minister, but the climate of strong political instability persisted, and in the following months numerous street demonstrations were organized to demand the resignation of the premier, who he resigned in July 2014. The early elections held in the following October confirmed the success of the conservative party GERB with about 33% of the votes (with Borisov’s reappointment as premier after Oreşarski’s resignation), followed by the Socialist Party and the Turkish Minority Party; the entry into Parliament of five other formations has actually created a situation of difficult governance, and the risk of the formation of an executive too weak and fragmented to be able to address the stringent economic-political issues that agitate the country, forcing the Conservative party to create new and broad alliances to form a stable executive. For Bulgaria history, please check areacodesexplorer.com.
The first round of the presidential elections held in November 2016 saw the confrontation between the socialist candidate R. Radev, who won 25.7% of the vote, and the candidate of the conservative party in government T. Tsacheva, who reported on 22 % of preferences; in the ballot held in the same month, Radev won 59.3% of the votes, taking over from Plevneliev in the presidential office. Following the election to the presidency of Radev, an opposition candidate, in the same month Borisov resigned again, replaced ad interim by OS Gerdzhikov,opening an institutional crisis that led to early elections in March 2017, the outcome of which was a new victory for Borisov’s center-right, which obtained 32% of the votes against the 28% awarded by the Socialist party, being reconfirmed in the sent in the following May. A further consolidation of the leadership of the politician emerged from the results of the European elections held in May 2019, in which the GERB obtained 30.9% of the votes, followed by the socialist opposition (24.2%) and the party of the Turkish minority DPS (16.3%), while the parliamentary elections held in April 2021 recorded a slight decrease in support for the premier’s party (26%) and the affirmation of the newly founded anti-system party ITN (17.9%), followed by the Socialist Party (15%). The following month, having ascertained the impossibility of the three political forces in charge of forming a new government, President Radev dissolved Parliament and set new elections in July, entrusting the leadership of a provisional executive to S. Yanev; the consultations confirmed the persistence of a stalemate, recording the affirmation of the populists of There is a people like this (ITN, Ima Takav Narod) by S. Trifonov, which obtained about 24% of the consensus, substantially equality with Borisov’s GERB, while the Socialist Party established itself as the third political force in the country, winning 13.5% of the votes. As Trifonov failed to form a new executive, in August 2021 the post was entrusted to the GERB party, but following the permanent political stalemate,
From 1 January to 30 June 2018 the Bulgaria assumed the presidency of the Council of the European Union.
