(Reuters) - Bulgaria's government resigned on Wednesday after mass protests against high power prices and falling living standards, joining a long list of European administrations felled by austerity during four years of debt crisis.
Prime Minister Boiko Borisov, an ex-bodyguard who took power in 2009 on pledges to root out graft and raise incomes in the European Union's poorest member, faces a tough task of propping up eroding support ahead of an expected early election.
Wage and pension freezes and tax hikes have bitten deep in a country where earnings are less than half the EU average and tens of thousands of Bulgarians have rallied in protests that have turned violent, chanting "Mafia" and "Resign".
Moves by Borisov on Tuesday to blame foreign utility companies for the rise in the cost of heating homes was to no avail and an eleventh day of marches saw 15 people hospitalized and 25 arrested in clashes with police.
"My decision to resign will not be changed under any circumstances. I do not build roads so that blood is shed on them," said Borisov, who began his career guarding the Black Sea state's communist dictator Todor Zhivkov.
A karate black belt, Borisov has cultivated a Putin-like "can-do" image since he entered politics as Sofia mayor in 2005 and would connect with voters by showing up on the capital's rutted streets to oversee the repair of pot-holes.
But critics say he has often skirted due process, sometimes to the benefit of those close to him, and his swift policy U-turns have wounded the public's trust.
The spark for the protests was high electricity bills, after the government raised prices by 13 percent last July. But it quickly spilled over into wider frustration with Borisov and political elites with perceived links to shadowy businesses.
"He made my day," said student Borislav Hadzhiev in central Sofia, commenting on Borisov's resignation. "The truth is that we're living in an extremely poor country."
Read more: Reuters.com
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Bulgarian neighbour, state Serbia had average income about 450 eur per month.The truth is all
ReplyDeletethat tranzition brought poverty, but showed out
lot of corruptions, cheap selling of resources etc.Benefit is for multinational corporation.
My girl friend from Bulgaria won a Visa, from a radio program, to come to the US! She told me all about living there and I met her mother and cousin who still live there. The fact is the ticket she won to America was the best thing that could have ever happened to her! Do u know that in Bulgaria you can not even go and buy a loaf of bread?? the government hands out vouchers for how much bread a person should receive in one month, and it is NEVER enough! GOD BLESS AMERICA! And I am sorry for the people who live in these third world countries and are lucky if they get food rationed to them!
ReplyDeleteGOD BLESS AMERICA?! US is the most corrupted country on the world and US is responsible for poorness of most of third world countries, they looting everything everywhere and creating the debt to it self and to every country they can. Majority of the people in US is manipulated to believe to BS they talk in news and in TV generally.
DeleteI say Fuck the America! Not the people, but its corrupted government and most of all its stupid brainwashed people who is joining the US army which is all over the world causing just death suffer and tyranny!
Your ignorance,Cherri, is terrifying. I don't know your girlfriend, but i'm pretty sure she's retarded, or maybe she's referring to another country named "Bulgaria", but surely not the Bulgaria I live in.
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