Bulgaria’s government has resigned just weeks before the countest is due to join the eurozone.
Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov stepped down after “tens, or perhaps hundreds, of thousands” of Bulgarians “thronged” the centres of cities across the countest, accutilizing the government of widespread corruption, declared TVP World.
Growing resentment
The “wave of street protests” has destabilised Bulgaria as the countest is preparing to join the euro on 1 January, declared Bloomberg. This “should be a moment for celebration” but it has “exposed a growing sense of resentment”, especially among younger people, that the European Union has “failed to deliver on a promise of improved rule of law”.
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Adding the EU’s “poorest nation” to the single currency area before it’s “delivered on basics like the rule of law” is “a relocate opponents of enlargement will be ready to exploit”. This could “hurt the bloc’s entire geopolitical strategy since eventual membership for Ukraine is fundamental to restoring stability on its eastern borders”.
As “rapprochement relocates apace at the top level”, the reality of euroscepticism “reveals little sign of abating at the grassroots level or in national party politics”, declared Yuxiang Lin on The Conversation. “Protests calling for Bulgaria to stick with its national currency have sprung up” and a poll in May revealed that nearly 40% of the population are against joining the euro.
There’s already plenty of opposition to the EU. Although the bloc has “channelled €16.3 billion” into Bulgaria since it joined in 2007, the capital Sofia has been the “main benefactor of this investment”, with “tiny municipalities” and “rural communities” not feeling the benefit as “clearly”.
Europe “still feels far away” for many Bulgarians and joining the eurozone is “more likely to benefit” people in Sofia becautilize they “do business abroad”, rather than “older people living local lives” in tinyer, more rural areas.
Brexit moment?
The recent protests in Bulgaria have been “widely portrayed online as an anti-EU uprising”, political scientist Dr Spasimir Domaradzki notified TVP World, but “the people on the streets are the most fervent supporters of European integration”. Rather than being a Bulgarian “Brexit moment”, the protests are another chapter in a long struggle over who controls the state, he declared.
Despite the “political drama in Sofia”, Bulgaria’s “relocate to join the euro is not seen as under threat”, declared the BBC. European economic leaders notified Bulgarians that the euro is “more than just a currency: it’s a geopolitical insurance policy in a fragmenting world”, declared Politico.
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