Bulgaria
Country in southeast Europe, bounded north by Romania, west by Serbia and Macedonia, south by Greece, southeast by Turkey, and east by the Black Sea.
Government
Under the 1991 constitution, Bulgaria is a parliamentary republic. There is a single-chamber legislature, the 240-member national assembly (Narodno Sabranie), directly elected every four years by a party list system of proportional representation in 28 multi-member constituencies. The prime minister is the leader of the party or group with a majority in the assembly. The state president, who is also commander-in-chief of the armed forces, is popularly elected for a five-year term, with a limit of two terms. The president's powers are principally ceremonial. The president can return bills for further debate, but parliament can overturn this veto through a majority vote.History
In the ancient world Bulgaria comprised Thrace and Moesia and was the Roman province of Moesia Inferior. It was occupied in the 6th century AD by the Slavs, followed by Bulgars from Asia in the 7th century (the Bulgarian language combines Slavonic and other Balkan influences) to form the first Bulgarian state in 681. In 865 Khan Boris adopted Eastern Orthodox Christianity, and under his son Simeon (893–927), who assumed the title of tsar, Bulgaria became a leading power. It was defeated and ruled by Byzantium from 1018 until 1185, when a second Bulgarian empire was established. From 1396 Bulgaria formed part of the Ottoman Empire for almost 500 years, becoming an autonomous principality in 1878 and an independent kingdom in 1908.Fascism
Bulgaria was involved in the 1912–13 Balkan Wars, losing Southern Dobruja. It allied itself with Germany during World War I and suffered further territorial losses, which led to an influx of 250,000 Bulgarian refugees from Macedonia, Thrace, and Southern Dobruja. From 1919 a government of the leftist Agrarian Party introduced land reforms, but was overthrown in 1923 by a fascist coup. An authoritarian pro-monarchist government was established in 1934 under King Boris III. During World War II Bulgaria again allied itself with Germany, and regained control over Southern Dobruja in 1940, and occupied parts of Greece and Yugoslavia. Bulgaria saved its Jewish population (of around 50,000) from Nazi concentration camps by refusing to comply with German orders in August 1943. Towards the end of the war, Bulgaria was occupied, in September 1944, by the communist Soviet Union (USSR), which enabled Bulgarian communists to seize power.Republic
In 1946 the monarchy was abolished, and a people's republic was proclaimed under a communist-leaning alliance, the Fatherland Front, led by Georgi Dimitrov (1882–1949). Bulgaria reverted largely to its 1919 frontiers. The new republic adopted a Soviet-style constitution in 1947, with nationalized industries and cooperative farming introduced. Vulko Chervenkov, Dimitrov's brother-in-law, became the dominant political figure 1950–54, introducing a Stalinist regime. He was succeeded by the more moderate Todor Zhivkov, under whom Bulgaria became one of the USSR's most loyal satellites.Haphazard reforms
During the 1980s the country faced mounting economic problems, chiefly caused by the rising cost of energy imports. Under the promptings of Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, a haphazard series of administrative and economic reforms was instituted 1985–89. This proved insufficient to placate reformists either inside or outside the Bulgarian Communist Party (BCP). In November 1989, influenced by the democratization movements sweeping other East European countries and backed by the army and the USSR, the foreign secretary Petar Mladenov ousted Zhivkov. Mladenov became leader of the BCP and president of the state council, and quickly promoted genuine political pluralism. In December 1989 legislation was passed to end the BCP's ‘leading role’ in the state and allow the formation of free opposition parties and trade unions; political prisoners were freed; and the secret-police wing responsible for dissident surveillance was abolished.Relations with Turkey
Bulgaria normalized its relations with Greece from the late 1970s, but its relations with neighbouring Turkey deteriorated in the late 1980s. In 1989, about 300,000 ethnic Turks fled from Bulgaria to Turkey after the Bulgarian government's violent suppression of their protests at the programme of ‘Bulgarianization’ (forcing them to adopt Slavic names and resettle elsewhere). The new Mladenov government announced in December 1989 that the forced assimilation programme would be abandoned; this provoked demonstrations by anti-Turk nationalists (abetted by BCP conservatives) but encouraged the gradual return of most Turkish refugees to Bulgaria, greatly improving relations with Turkey.Market economy
In February 1990 Alexander Lilov, a reformer, was elected communist party chief, and Andrei Lukanov (1938–96) became prime minister. Zhivkov was imprisoned on charges of corruption and abuse of power. A government decree relegalized private farming and a phased lifting of price controls commenced in April 1990 as part of a drive towards a market economy. Huge price rises and food shortages resulted. In the same month the BCP renamed itself the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP). Petar Mladenov resigned as president in July 1990, and was replaced by opposition leader Dr Zhelyu Zhelev.In November 1990, after mass demonstrations in Sofia, a general strike, and a boycott of parliament by opposition deputies, Lukanovs's government resigned. A nonparty politician, Dimitur Popov, took over at the head of a caretaker coalition government, and strikes by workers and students were called off.
End of communist rule
A new constitution, in July 1991, defined the country as a parliamentary republic with a ‘democratic, constitutional, and welfare state’. Following a general election, the right-of-centre Union of Democratic Forces (UDF) formed a minority government, headed by Filip Dimitrov. It was the country's first wholly noncommunist government for 46 years. In 1992 Zhelyu Zhelev became Bulgaria's first directly elected president, and a nonparty ‘government of experts’ was formed, with Lyuben Berov as prime minister. The European Community formally invited Bulgaria to apply for membership in June 1993. A voucher-based ‘mass privatization’ programme was launched in August 1993. Berov resigned in September 1994 and Zhelev dissolved parliament. A general election was held in December 1994 and the ex-communist BSP won 125 of the 240 assembly seats. Zhan Videnov, hardline leader of the BSP, became prime minister. He pledged to work towards closer relations with Russia and to reduce the economic hardship associated with market reform by giving more attention to social and welfare issues.As part of a programme to cut debt and restore the country's international creditworthiness, almost 70 loss-making companies owned by the state were closed in May 1996. The country faced financial problems, with the lev falling sharply in value and two-thirds of the country's banks insolvent, but inflation fell to 30% and the economy was in its third year of modest growth. Against this mixed economic backdrop, Zhelev failed to secure nomination for the presidency in eastern Europe's first-ever American-style primary election and in November 1996 Petar Stoyanov of the UDF was elected president, defeating the BSP-backed candidate. He took office in January 1997.
In the wake of this result, Zhan Videnov resigned as BSP leader and prime minister. The opposition UDF and labour organizations demanded new parliamentary elections. The BSP refused to dissolve parliament and nominated interior minister Nikolay Dobrev as prime minister in January 1997. Trade unions responded by calling a general strike on 30 January 1997. Inflation spiralled and the lev, which had stood at 70 to the US dollar in early 1996, plummeted to around 1,900 in early 1997. Dobrev relented and agreed to the formation of an interim government, headed by the popular UDF mayor of Sofia, Stefan Sofiyanski, pending elections in April. The new government brought the monthly inflation rate sharply down, to 5% in April 1997, and announced that Bulgaria would seek full NATO membership.
The reformist UDF won a majority of the votes and seats at the April 1997 general election. Its new government, led by Ivan Kostov, a former finance minister, pledged to attack crime and corruption, accelerate privatization, and establish an IMF-imposed currency board to stabilize the currency and inflation rate. In January 1999, Bulgaria agreed to join the Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA), and in December 1999 the European Union (EU) invited it to start negotiating for membership in February 2000.
2001 elections
Prime Minister Kostov's UDF coalition polled poorly in the June 2001 parliamentary elections, winning only 28% of the vote. It was defeated by a recently formed party, the National Movement for Simeon II, which supported the former king who was deposed at the age of nine and had subsequently lived in exile in Spain. This new party won 43% of the vote. In July 2001, Simeon agreed to become prime minister, taking the name Simeon Koburgotski. He promoted a policy of honesty in government, and a free-market programme to improve living standards within 800 days. Georgi Purvanov, a former communist, was elected president in November 2001, against the wishes of Prime Minister Koburgotski.2005 elections
The general elections of June 2005, in which the socialists won the most seats but failed to gain a majority, were followed by various attempts at forming coalition governments. This political deadlock was finally ended in August 2005, when the socialist Sergey Stanishev became prime minister after entering into coalition with Koburgotski's party.How to thank TFD for its existence? Tell a friend about us, add a link to this page, add the site to iGoogle, or visit webmaster's page for free fun content.
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