Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
garian Socialist Party (BSP). A broad opposition coalition, the Union of Democratic
Forces (UDF) failed to unseat the BSP in the June 1990 parliamentary elections - making
Bulgaria the first ex-Soviet state to resurrect communists.
While the incompetence of both blocs
caused frequent changes in government, elec-
tions were generally irrelevant in transition-era
Bulgaria, as power and wealth consolidated
around overnight millionaires, bodyguards,
former spies and other adventurers in the new
'capitalism.' Throughout the 1990s, an impov-
erished public held protests over government failures. In 1997, prime minister Ivan
Kostov pledged to fight crime and corruption while attracting investment. However, doing
this while making painful NATO- and EU-mandated reforms was difficult.
In 2001 Bulgarians elected their once-exiled king as prime minister. Simeon Saxe-
Coburg had formed the National Movement Simeon II (NMSII) only two months earlier.
His coalition included the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF), the ethnic Turkish
party of wealthy businessman Ahmed Dogan, and promised economic prosperity, plus
NATO and EU membership. Although Simeon's popularity did not endure, those goals
were reached - Bulgaria joined NATO in 2004 and the EU in 2007.
Boyko Borisov, elected Bulgaria's prime minister
in 2009, holds a black belt in karate and has served
as president of the Bulgarian Karate Federation.
TIMELINE
6000-5000 BC
Bulgaria's earliest neolithic settlers occupy caves, abandoning them around 5000 BC
for mud huts. Farming develops.
4000-1000 BC
Thracian tribes dominate modern-day Bulgaria; around 3000 BC, settlements include
coastal Mesembria; around 2000 BC they expand into Greece and Anatolia.
611 BC
Greek settlers from the Anatolian city-state of Miletus establish Apollonia Pontica (So-
zopol) o`n the Black Sea coast - the first classical democracy on Bulgarian territory.
All males over 18 can vote.
