Bulgaria News – Breaking World Bulgaria News – The New York Times
World news about Bulgaria. Breaking news and archival information about its people, politics and economy from The New York Times.
Excerpt found on topics.nytimes.com
Since the fall of the Soviet Union, Bulgaria has struggled with poverty and corruption. More recently, its woes have been compounded by the global economic downturn.
On July 5, 2009, Mayor Boyko Borisov of Sofia, a burly former black-belt bodyguard with a penchant for tough talk, cigars and leather jackets, led his center-right opposition party to a larger-than-expected election victory over Bulgaria’s governing Socialist-led coalition, which was weakened by a severely deteriorating economy and voter fatigue with chronic corruption.
Preliminary results showed Mr. Borisov’s party, the Citizens for the European Development of Bulgaria, with 42 percent of the vote, while the Socialist-led coalition had 18 percent, less than had been anticipated. Mr. Borisov will probably be the next prime minister, if negotiations to form a coalition government are successful. Mr. Borisov’s party has become the leading political force in the country, campaigning on promises of change and bringing accountability to government. The incumbents were punished by an electorate fed up over what many viewed as endemic abuse of power in Bulgaria, exacerbated by the country’s deteriorating relationship with the European Union, which it joined on Jan. 1, 2007.
Bulgaria lost 430 million euros – roughly $600 million – in European Union funds last year because of poor government administration and a failure to clean up graft. An additional 300 million euros in European Union funds for Bulgaria had been frozen.
Critics had also accused the government of failing to take adequate measures to minimize the impact of the global economic crisis, which hit Bulgaria later than the rest of Europe.
Mr. Borisov is a colorful character whose preferences for blunt language, cigars and black Italian leather trench coats endear him to many southern European countrymen.
