Anti-government protests
The 2020–2021 Bulgarian protests were a series of demonstrations that were being held in Bulgaria, mainly in the capital Sofia, as well as cities with a large Bulgarian diaspora, such as Brussels, Paris, Madrid, Barcelona, Berlin and London. The protest movement was the culmination of long-standing grievances against endemic corruption and state capture, particularly associated with prime minister Boyko Borisov's governments, in power since 2016.
Spontaneous demonstrations were triggered by the 9 July 2020 raid on the Presidency of Bulgaria by police and prosecutors in what was perceived as an attack against President Rumen Radev, a vocal critic of Borisov's rule.
Borisov has refused to resign, insisting that the "mafia wants to overthrow him" and that "no alternatives" to his rule have been presented. His ministers, deputies and parliamentary allies have labelled protesters "scum", "apes" and a "herd" which must be "put back in its place".
The protests ended on 16 April 2021, as the 4-year term of Borisov's cabinet has ended, and the formal resignation of the 3rd Borisov government has been accepted by the new parliament.
Background.
Corruption.
Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov and his populist GERB party have been in power since 2009, with a two-year interruption in 2013, when his government lost power following similar protests. Borisov's cabinets have seen persistent corruption in all branches of government; a 2017 assessment of the United States Department of State described the presence of selective justice and a lack of judicial independence. The report stated that Bulgarian government officials were engaging in bribery, procurement violations and embezzlement with impunity. Bulgaria has consistently ranked as the most corrupt European Union member in the Corruption Perceptions Index, and has remained last in 2019, ranking 74th globally. As a result of corruption and oligarchic rule, Foreign direct investment collapsed from 28% of GDP in 2008 to a largely remittance-based 2% of GDP in 2018.
Corruption has been described as "endemic", especially in large infrastructure and energy projects, and within public procurement with taxpayer and EU funds. A report by the Centre for the Study of Democracy, a Bulgarian think-tank, found that local businesses perceive at least 35% of public tender contracts to involve corruption. Many of the public tender contracts are awarded to a handful of large companies amid widespread irregularities, procedure violations and tailor-made award criteria. Furthermore, infrastructure projects are often poorly made on purpose in order to extract continuing maintenance contracts for the companies involved. In an infamous case, a poorly renovated road led to a bus crash near Svoge in 2018, resulting in 20 deaths. In 2019 alone, the Borisov government signed public procurement deals worth 16.4 billion leva ($9.93 billion) largely for infrastructural projects, more than three times the government budget for the nation's "collapsing" healthcare system.
In the 2018-2020 period, Borisov and his ministers have also been involved in a series of corruption scandals: guesthouses built with EU funds have been used as private villas for government officials; millions in agricultural subsidies have been diverted to livestock existing only on paper; and Borisov himself was implicated in a possible money laundering scheme investigated by police in Catalonia.
This has been complemented by a steep decline in media freedom. Bulgaria dropped from 59th to 111th globally in the Press Freedom Index between 2008 and 2019, the lowest score of any EU member or candidate state; Reporters Without Borders reported worsening harassment of journalists and continuing government control over the media through financial means, including EU funding. The organisation expressed particular concern over the Borisov government's candidate for Chief Prosecutor, Ivan Geshev, who had made scathing remarks about media which were "not to his liking". Geshev also opposed the concept of separation of powers, calling it "a far-right idea". Former US ambassador to Bulgaria, James Pardew, said in 2019 that a "political environment with little government or criminal accountability and no serious opposition to challenge the current government" is in place in Bulgaria. Pardew further named Delyan Peevski as a "media kingpin" with a virtual monopoly on private media in Bulgaria, controlling as much as 80% of the local market.
Institutional war.
Following the defeat of GERB's candidate for president in the 2016 Bulgarian presidential election, Bulgarian Air Force general Rumen Radev was elected to the mostly ceremonial post of President of Bulgaria. Radev, an independent, was nonetheless backed by the Bulgarian Socialist Party – Bulgaria's largest opposition party. Radev frequently criticised the prime minister over what he alleged was corruption, mismanagement and authoritarianism inherent in Borisov's rule. Consequently, Radev frequently vetoed legislative proposals by GERB and vocally opposed Borisov's government. In turn, Borisov accused Radev of sabotaging the government's work, dividing the nation and compromising his independence in favour of the opposition. Bulgaria's parliamentarist constitution holds the Prime Minister responsible to the National Assembly instead of the President and allows for the parliament to overrule presidential vetoes via a simple majority. As such, Borisov was able to maintain power in the country despite the president's objections and criticisms, as the latter lacked any legal mechanism to sack or seriously obstruct the government.
This inter-institutional conflict escalated significantly in late 2019, as the President attempted to block the appointment of Ivan Geshev to the post of Chief Prosecutor. Radev cited Geshev's nomination by the Supreme Judicial Council, a procedure where Geshev was the sole candidate. However, the Supreme Judicial Council constitutionally forced President to accept Geshev as Chief Prosecutor, which Radev reluctantly did after noting that further refusals could amount to a violation of the constitution. The newly appointed Chief Prosecutor released what he described as wiretaps of the president shortly thereafter, which allegedly implicated him in criminal activities. Radev, who was at this point criticising Borisov over the government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the country, strongly rejected the allegations and accused the Prime Minister of having the nation's security service illegally spy on him and fabricate evidence.
Cause of protests.
Alleged photographs and voice recordings of the Prime Minister.
Shortly before the start of the protests, photographs emerged that purported to show what appeared to be Prime Minister Borisov laying half-naked on a bed, next to a nightstand featuring a handgun and stacks of 500 euro banknotes. Borisov confirmed that the room in which the photos were taken was his, but denied the gun and money, stating that the images could have been manipulated. Borisov accused President Radev of flying a consumer drone into his residence in order to take the picture. He also accused former Ombudswoman Maya Manolova, TV star Slavi Trifonov and his own former second in command Tsvetan Tsvetanov (who had just left and condemned the ruling party) of involvement in a plot to take photos of him while he was sleeping, in a "KGB-Style" kompromat operation. Radev condemned the leaks and called it an "insane" invasion of the prime minister's privacy. He added that he owns a drone, but that the accusation that he personally piloted it into the prime minister's residence to take pictures was part of Borisov's "fantasy and paranoia".
Around that time controversial voice recordings were leaked on the Internet. The voice in the recordings, which strongly resembles the voice of the Prime Minister Borisov, insults fellow GERB member and chairman of the National Assembly Tsveta Karayancheva and European leaders. On 24 July, socialist MEP Elena Yoncheva stated that American experts had allegedly proven the authenticity of the recording. EU Parliament head David Sassoli stated that Yoncheva had pledged to provide the findings to Belgian police.
Scandal with National Security Service guards.
One of the events that provoked a strong public reaction was an action of activists of Yes, Bulgaria!, broadcast live on social media. The activists, led by Hristo Ivanov, reached a coastal beach in front of the residence of Bulgarian oligarch Ahmed Dogan, located near the port of Rosenets in Burgas by boat. Their purpose was to check whether the regime of exclusive state ownership of the surrounding beach is actually observed and whether as such it is accessible to Bulgarian citizens. There they were intercepted by security guards, which pushed them out, insisted that the beach was privately owned and called the police, which assisted them.
The activists subsequently called on the president and the prime minister to identify whether the anonymous security guards were National Security Service (NSS) employees. The NSS is a government-funded bodyguard and security service that is only mandated to protect state leaders, which Ahmed Dogan is not. Party representatives also called on the prosecutor's office to launch an investigation against Ahmed Dogan for violating the constitution and state property law.
In an address to the nation the following day, President Radev revealed that the guards were, in fact, employees of the National Security Service. Borisov called on the leadership of the NSS to cease protection duties of Ahmed Dogan and Delyan Peevski, who is also under protection by the Service. Radev followed with a similar call several hours later. In this situation, GERB and the United Patriots introduced amendments to the Law on NGOs, according to which the appointment of security guards by the service would become the responsibility of the head of the service.
"Eight Dwarfs" extortion scandal.
In early July, the name of the General Prosecutor became mixed up in the corruption scandal ""Eight Dwarfs", which erupted at the same time. The "Eight Dwarfs"" scandal was named after a downtown Sofia restaurant in which alleged extortion deals took place. The scandal related to senior magistrates, with which the American ambassador to the country was personally acquainted. Prosecution magistrates were accused by an owner of an elevator company of extorting him to give up his shares in the company to them, threatening him that they would leave his sick son without lifesaving hemodialysis should he refuse. The magistrates were also alleged to have met there to discuss plans to steal 35 kilograms of gold from another businessman.
Incursion of the public prosecutors into the presidency.
Shortly thereafter, representatives of the prosecution and Capitol Police investigators entered the presidency, carrying out search and seizure operations. They arrested two officials from the presidential administration. The first arrestee was Plamen Uzunov, advisor on legal issues and anti-corruption, accused of Influence peddling. The second – Iliya Milushev, a presidential advisor on security issues, accused of crimes involving disclosure of state secrets and conspiracy to illegally obtain secret documents. Another employee of the state reconnaissance agency with the initials M.K. was also arrested. According to the prosecution's statement Milushev voluntarily handed over four documents, which had been taken illegally from the State Intelligence Agency. According to the Agency, the documents contained information constituting a state secret. At the same time a prominent businessman Plamen Bobokov was also arrested for alleged Influence peddling.
General Prosecutor Ivan Geshev told the media his indifference to the incident on the beach, where it was revealed that the national flag had been trampled.
Eventually, the culmination of all these scandals provoked a spontaneous protest in front of the presidency.
Timeline.
July.
9 July – Protests begin.
The protests began on 9 July 2020. They set as their goal the removal of Borisov's cabinet and the resignation of Chief Prosecutor Ivan Geshev. They are encouraged by President Rumen Radev, who has called for the expulsion of the Bulgarian mafia from the executive and the judiciary, as well as EU member states to express a position on the situation in the country, which is growing into a constitutional crisis. However, the prime minister and the chief prosecutor refused to resign. The prosecutors' board and members of the government oppose the resignation of the chief prosecutor and the prime minister.
10 July – The President's address; Borisov calls for counter-protests.
Thousands of protesters blocked the center of the capital for the second night in a row. At 5:27 pm the Head of the National Security Service, Gen. Krasimir Stanchev resigned. This came hours after he was asked to do so by President Rumen Radev after a series of scandals in which the service was involved in guarding the summer residence of honorary DPS leader Ahmed Dogan. Earlier, Stanchev's resignation had been demanded by Democratic Bulgaria.
About an hour and a half after the protests began President Rumen Radev told protesters in front of the presidency that "the protest against the mafia is turning into a campaign and there is no force to stop us." Radev called on the protesters not to be divided into left and right, Russophiles and Russophobes, Americanophiles and Americanophobes,