The appointment of a controversial personality to head the State Agency for National Security in the face of Delian Peevski ( MP from the Movement for Rights and Freedoms) caused massive protests in all parts of Bulgaria which escalated in a matter of three days only and brought tens of thousands of remonstrants in the squares and the streets of the big Bulgarian cities. In February there were also thousands of people in the streets, but now things look quite different.

The protests in February this year were caused by high electricity bills and the excessive power of the monopolies operating in this country. The social protests turned into economic ones and caused the resignation of Boyko Borissov’s cabinet. 

The current protests are politically orientated from their very beginning and were caused by the fact that the new head of the State Agency for National Security who is a very controversial person was elected without debates in the National Assembly. If these protests are backed by social ones, the consequences for the country could be very serious.

There are many grounds for such course of actions. The social burdens of the Bulgarian population are still in place and there are no signs showing that the power of the monopolies will be curbed. The protests in February erupted during institutional stability when the Bulgarian government had sufficient support in the National Assembly and the Bulgarian President was backing the government. Now, the Bulgarian government is yet to make its first steps and is still in the process of formation of the Deputy Ministers and the District governors and the Bulgarian President already said that his confidence in the cabinet headed by Plamen Oresharski was over. All this happens during a fragile proportion of the political powers in the Bulgarian Parliament where the biggest political party GERB is in opposition and the political forces forming the new Bulgarian cabinet - the Bulgarian Socialist Party and the Movement for Rights and Freedoms do not have enough MP’s to form a majority in the Parliament and such was formed by an ad hoc support provided by the nationalist party Ataka.

The failed nomination for new head of the State Agency for National Security caused discontent in the society as well as in the political parties which brought this candidature forward. The situation is unprecedented.

Delian Peevski - the newly-elected head of the State Agency for National Security resigned only a day after he was elected for this position. However, his decision did not calm the public down and the protests became even larger. Apparently, the social and political tension is very high in this country and the government has to react adequately in this situation. The leader of the Bulgarian Socialist Party Sergey Stanishev confessed that his party and the Movement for Rights and Freedoms underestimated the public opinion and made a political mistake. Premier Oresharski said the same. He promised that the new head of the State Agency for National Security will be discussed in public and will be elected after a debate in the National Assembly.

The reactions of the current government seem wise and adequate. But it is still unknown whether they will be sufficient to calm the remonstrants down, because they are now shouting “Thugs out of Parliament”, “Change the rules of the game”, “Farewell” and “Resignation” and they did not receive a positive answer to their requests yet.

English version: Kostadin Atanasov