The first 100 days of the rule of the four-party coalition between "We continue the change", ITN (There is such a people), the Bulgarian Socialist Party and Democratic Bulgaria have passed. This happened with the feeling of turbulence provoked by crisis events such as the war in Ukraine and the flow of refugees to Bulgaria, a serious rise in fuel and electricity prices, rising prices for necessities in the retail chain. If we add to this the economic problems caused by the pandemic, we will answer the question why the topic was not at the forefront of the public agenda. Yet the crises facing the government from November to now have undoubtedly proved more challenging than those facing all governments over the past 21 years.

“A political and health crisis was expected, but in fact the feeling of a political crisis turned out to be possible”, sociologist Parvan Simeonov said in an interview with Radio Bulgaria.

“The feeling of a health crisis has started to fade, but now war and inflation have come. Therefore, the government was given a task with increased difficulty. I follow public opinion data, several of which are important. People do not want early elections and a new government. We will start observing the normal erosion processes regarding people’s trust in the government. What we are seeing is a process of hard landing.”

According to political scientist Svetoslav Malinov, it is important to judge the government by its ability to deal with overlapping crises, not so much by the facts as it fulfills its pre-election commitments.

"The government is partially dealing with some things, quite well with others and completely rejecting others. I dare say - they coped well with the Covid crisis. When they took office 100 days ago, the main problem was the pandemic, and everyone dreamed of being in the situation we are in now - a declining number of new cases, fewer persons going to hospital. With regard to Ukraine, we do not need a demonstration, but a sincere conviction that we must act as allies and not hesitate to say that we are forced to do just that. We are currently in a situation where we are a member of the European Union, which is directly condemned as an enemy for Russia, but we are trying to find a softer position," Malinov explained in an interview with BNR.

Another shortcoming of the government is visible - the inability of Prime Minister Kiril Petkov to impose and defend certain topics, and in foreign policy – he seems to be unable to achieve what he believes in.

"At the moment, the prime minister does not seem to be the leader. It can be seen how President Rumen Radev and the Bulgarian Socialist Party manage to set the government's position on Ukraine”, Svetoslav Malinov says.

The chairperson of the strategic council under Bulgaria’s President, Alexander Marinov, praised the ability of the political parties to keep the four-party coalition stable and, above all, working. However, he criticized its work on one of its main priorities - zero tolerance for corruption and the fight against it, as well as the police action in which former PM Boyko Borisov, former Finance Minister Vladislav Goranov and GERB party PR Sevdelina Arnaudova were detained.

"It is more important to eliminate systemic causes of corruption. This abolition is not always necessarily linked to criminal justice. Of course, when it comes to specific accusations, they must be prepared very convincingly“, said Marinov.

Sociologist Parvan Simeonov considers the coalition format of the government, as well as the adopted state budget, which allows the government to spend, to be advantages in the current crisis situation. However, such a bond between the left and the right wing in parliament can be a curse:

"As you can see, there are internal tensions along the West-East axis during the war. It classifies the parties as left-wing and right-wing. And in the coalition between them, there is a chance to have one western and one eastern leg in times when you have to balance. It depends on the government whether it will take advantage of this opportunity or it will become more of a problem," sociologist Parvan Simeonov says.

English version Rositsa Petkova