Greetings from Bulgaria – a small country on the Balkan Peninsula, with however complex issues at hand.Though not many people worldwide know about my country, its popularity has increasingly grown thanks to individuals like actress Nina Dobrev, football player Dimitar Berbatov and most recently, with its almost one-year-old wave of political protests. The latter is exactly what this blog will focus on.
I’m a student at the American University in Bulgaria, and I’m majoring in Journalism and Political Science, which is why I will try to combine the best of both areas through my blog posts. The idea is to interview as many Bulgarians as possible in order to better understand their stance on how the political unrest affects their lives. Currently, Bulgaria is divided into two opposite social classes: idle poor and super rich, and the so-called “middle class” is too vague to have its own stratum. While the former try to figure out how to make it through the day with the lowest average income in the EU, the latter make sure their trip to Dubai includes at least one yacht cruise. It is exactly this inability of the state to balance the two extremes that represents a danger to most of the population. While the social discontent escalates, the trust in institutions reaches a new low, and the Bulgarians went out on the streets to voice that out.
The protests began in February 2013 when many people found their electric bills to be higher than they should. First came the resignation of the previous government with Prime Minister, Boyko Borisov, followed by preliminary elections in May 2013. After only four months, a new government was formed, this time with a prime minister from the opposition party – socialist, Plamen Oresharski. In just a few weeks filled with multiple promises for better living conditions, the new government made the mistake to appoint Delyan Peevski, who many perceived as a corrupted businessman with control over the media, for Chair of the State Agency for National Security.
This particular decision is what convinced the people who simply observed the protests from the comfort of their homes to go out and join their fellow citizens. While the support for political governance still differentiates in reference to which party is better, all Bulgarians agree on one thing: we need change.
The question on how to bring about this change and what social aspects need immediate improvement is the primary focus of my blog. Enjoy!
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The Chaotic Politics of Bulgaria 