Bulgaria's government resigned yesterday after weeks of street protests over its economic policies and growing public dissatisfaction with widespread corruption.
Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov announced the decision in a televised address just minutes before parliament was due to vote on a no-confidence motion. His resignation comes less than three weeks before Bulgaria is due to join the eurozone on January 1st.
"Our coalition met, we discussed the current situation, the challenges we face and the decisions we must responsibly make," Zhelyazhkov said, confirming that the government, which has lasted less than a year, will resign.
The mass protests, which culminated on December 1, gathered more than a hundred thousand people in Sofia and dozens of other cities, representing the largest public mobilization in Bulgaria in decades.
Many of the protesters are young, educated urban people who strongly support Bulgaria's entry into the eurozone and want it to become more part of the European mainstream. Bulgaria remains the poorest and most corrupt member of the European Union, which it joined in 2007.
The immediate cause of the protests was the draft budget for 2026, the first in euros, which envisaged an increase in social security contributions and dividend taxes, in order to finance higher government spending.
“We understand that the protest was directed against arrogance and conceit, it is not a social protest, but a protest for values,” Zhelyazkov said. “It was not a clash of political opponents over policies, but over an attitude, and that is why it unites different segments of Bulgarian society.”
Although the government withdrew the budget last week, it has not stopped the protests in a country that has held seven election cycles in the past four years, in an atmosphere of deep political and social divisions.
“This is the first step towards Bulgaria becoming a normal European state,” said Asen Vasilev, leader of the opposition party We Continue Change.
"The next step... is to hold fair and free elections, not elections marked by electoral manipulation, as was the case in the last parliamentary elections," Vasilev added.
President Rumen Radev, who earlier this week called on the government to resign, repeated that message yesterday: "Between the voice of the people and the fear of the mafia - listen to the squares!" he wrote in a message to MPs on Facebook.
In accordance with the Bulgarian constitution, Radev will now ask parliamentary parties to try to form a new government. If they fail to do so, which seems likely, he will appoint an interim administration to lead the country until new elections are held.
Zhelyazhkov's cabinet will remain in office until his successor is elected.
Boyko Borisov, leader of the center-right GERB party, which led the outgoing coalition, defended its performance, including bringing Bulgaria into Schengen, the EU's open-border zone, and completing preparations for joining the eurozone.
"We have nothing to be ashamed of in these past 11 months," Borisov said at a news conference at his party headquarters. "From today, we will be a strong opposition; we will work to win the (next) elections."
Many protesters believe that two people are responsible for the current difficult situation in the country - Borisov, prime minister for three terms between 2009 and 2021, and oligarch Delyan Peevski, who is under US and UK sanctions and whose Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS) party supported the previous ruling coalition.
For many Bulgarians, Peevski's role in shaping government policy and appointments symbolizes the capture of state institutions by oligarchic interests. In this sense, Peevski's partnership with Borisova epitomizes entrenched corruption, the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) said.
The organization alleges that the government has systematically weakened democratic institutions, politicized the judiciary, and targeted political opponents.
Borisov, as ECFR writes, is imitating US President Donald Trump and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban by loudly expressing opposition to using frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine (“it would embolden warmongers”), supporting Trump's 28-point plan, and aligning himself with Orban's forecasts (“Russia cannot lose the war”).
Borisov's views follow a trend among European leaders who see alignment with US foreign policy as a shortcut to political success and a way to avoid responsibility at home. However, the ECFR said the protests in Bulgaria showed public support for the EU to more courageously protect its democratic processes - especially among a generation that has only known European integration.
"To address the problem of corrupt and opportunistic governments, further emboldened by Trump's culture war against Europe, the EU should ensure that access to its funding is inseparable from good governance. This means withholding the second and third tranches of the Bulgarian National Recovery and Resilience Plan, which are conditional on anti-corruption measures," the ECFR assessed in an analysis published before the government's resignation.
He added that the EU should prevent the emergence of another Orban-style government in Bulgaria by supporting the work of the Bulgarian European Public Prosecutor's Office and insisting on accountability in cases of embezzlement of European funds.
The ECFR stressed that European political families - especially the European People's Party, which includes GERB - should take decisive action against members who seek to undermine European unity on strategic issues.
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