Why the political crisis in Bulgaria is encouraged: “It is a stronger Russian interference than in Romania”

In Bulgaria, the eighth round of elections in the last four years is coming, after the parliamentary parties failed to form a new executive. Moreover, the Bulgarian president announced his resignation, to be replaced by the vice-president Iliana Iotova. In this context, a scenario with “a novel variant” would take place in the neighboring state.

Bulgarian citizens go to the polls again in 2026 PHOTO EPA EFE

“It is a mark of instability and fragility“, is the opinion of foreign policy analyst Iulian Chifu, regarding the series of early elections in recent years in the neighboring state, emphasizing that “we see very clearly a fragmentation of political life in Bulgaria“.

“A unique variant”

He notes, however, “a novel variant”: “Here, the president resigns, joins his party and believes that he will be able to solve the problems of this bill”.

“In Bulgaria there is the position of vice-president. The resignation of the president automatically leads to the vice-president taking over his duties. From this point of view, we have a president who is the current vice-president. It is not by chance that the constitutional amendment was made and there is a vice-president (no – 1991). So it was premeditated at a certain point. And in the next phase we have the president who makes his party. His party with which he has to go to the elections and get enough votes so that the new majority variant is much more stable and lasts at least one mandate“, he explains.

Regarding the reasons of the resigned president, the expert points out: “Let's say it comes primarily from his ambition, once, and secondly from the fact that he believes he will be able to perform as a politician and achieve much more for Bulgaria in the new position of party leader, possibly prime minister.”

The resigned leader exposed over time a position favorable to the Kremlin and against EU support for Ukraine. Last year, Radev used his veto against legislative changes that would have allowed the government to take control of the Lukoil oil refinery, but parliament overruled the objections.

In Schengen and in the Eurozone

Although the last few years have been marked by a political crisis and several early elections, the country has fully acceded to Schengen, together with Romania and, most recently, to the Eurozone.

The expert in security and international relations explains that with regard to Schengen “went to the package. They gave the criteria there very clearly and once they were stabilized, it was possible to take a step forward”.

Regarding the accession to the Eurozone, it indicates that “Bulgaria, after its financial, banking failure, imbalances during the transition period, introduced the Council that linked the leva to the German mark and later to the euro. As a result, there was already a Monetary Council linked to the euro, from the moment Bulgaria had major financial problems. And then it is much easier to converge when you are already linked to the euro.”

“What is happening in Bulgaria is the expression of an interference”

“It is clear that we must be more careful. And, personally, I think that what is happening in Bulgaria is the expression of an even stronger Russian interference than in Romania. I mean, we all suspect that in our past elections, in one form or another, there was interference. We suspect that of a technological or informational nature, social networks and so on. We know very well that there were interferences in North Macedonia or in the Republic of Moldova, especially, where money was given almost at face value to change the result of the vote.

We know the relationship between Russia and neighboring states such as Hungary or Serbia. We may come to the conclusion that I am convinced that many of our Bulgarian neighbors have already come to, that there is more or less obvious Russian interference in their elections or in their politics as well. I think this succession of crises is also encouraged by formations or especially by local political figures who have an anti-European agenda”, former Foreign Minister Adrian Cioroianu also explains for “Adevărul”.