Calling the situation of the centre-left parties in Central and Eastern Europe ‘difficult’ equals hiding behind a diplomatic langue de bois. In none of the countries of the region, Social Democrats are in government – neither at the helm of a coalition, nor as a partner in one. Sometimes they even failed to enter parliament […]
Bulgaria
Politically, Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) is disappointing – but looking at it from outside of Europe it is a stunning economic success story. However, this success cannot be taken for granted – and its end could make the region even more politically disappointing. However, there are things Progressives could do. But they require political […]
The EU-Western Balkans summit in Slovenia on 6 October ended with a renewed sense of heightened impatience with the blockages in the accession processes of the six candidate countries. There is an urgent need for the economic and investment plan, that was proposed exactly one year ago, to materialise – especially as it is a […]
Parliamentary elections took place in Bulgaria on 4 April. They were marked by the Covid-19 pandemic not only because of the additional precautionary measures taken in the polling stations on the election day but also because of the third wave of increasing infections and hospitalisations during the campaign period. This third wave led to a […]
Like many other European countries, on 4 April Bulgaria faced the challenge of its parliamentary elections in the pandemic times of Covid-19. While it is noteworthy that for the first time in ten years the Bulgarian parliament managed to escape early elections, the way the elections were to be held raised many concerns, due to […]
The big winners of the 2021 parliamentary election in Bulgarian were three new parties, that will now enterparliament and that had championed last summer’s “Things Can’t Go on Like This” protests. The ‘systemic’ parties were punished, with prime minister Borissov’s GERB taking first place but with insufficient votes to form a government, thus opening the […]
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