General Information about BULGARIA

General Information about BULGARIA

Country in southeast Europe, bounded north by Romania, west by Yugoslavia and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, south by Greece, southeast by Turkey, and east by the Black Sea.

Government
Under the 1991 constitution, Bulgaria is a parliamentary republic. There is a single-chamber legislature, the 240-member national assembly, directly elected every five years by a system of proportional representation. The prime minister is the leader of the party or group with a majority in the assembly. The state president, who is also commander in chief of the armed forces, is popularly elected for a five-year term. The president's powers are principally ceremonial.

History
In the ancient world Bulgaria comprised Thrace and Moesia and was the Roman province of Moesia Inferior. It was occupied in the 6th century AD by the Slavs, followed by Bulgars from Asia in the 7th century (the Bulgarian language combines Slavonic and other Balkan influences). In 865 Khan Boris adopted Eastern Orthodox Christianity, and under his son Simeon (893–927), who assumed the title of tsar, Bulgaria became a leading power. It was ruled by Byzantium from the 11th century until 1185, when a second Bulgarian empire was established. From 1396 Bulgaria formed part of the Ottoman Empire for almost 500 years, becoming an autonomous principality in 1878 and an independent kingdom in 1908.

Fascism
Bulgaria allied itself with Germany during World War I. From 1919 a government of the leftist Agrarian Party introduced land reforms, but was overthrown in 1923 by a fascist coup. An authoritarian pro-monarchist government was established in 1934 under King Boris III. During World War II Bulgaria again allied itself with Germany, being occupied in 1944 by the USSR.

Republic
In 1946 the monarchy was abolished, and a republic was proclaimed under a communist-leaning alliance, the Fatherland Front, led by Georgi Dimitrov (1882–1949). Bulgaria reverted largely to its 1919 frontiers. The new republic adopted a Soviet-style constitution in 1947, with nationalized industries and cooperative farming introduced. Vulko Chervenkov, Dimitrov's brother-in-law, became the dominant political figure 1950–54, introducing a Stalinist regime. He was succeeded by the more moderate Todor Zhivkov, under whom Bulgaria became one of the USSR's most loyal satellites.

Haphazard reforms
During the 1980s the country faced mounting economic problems, chiefly caused by the rising cost of energy imports. Under the promptings of Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, a haphazard series of administrative and economic reforms was instituted 1985–89. This proved insufficient to placate reformists either inside or outside the Bulgarian Communist Party (BCP). In November 1989, influenced by the democratization movements sweeping other East European countries and backed by the army and the USSR, the foreign secretary Petar Mladenov ousted Zhivkov. Mladenov became leader of the BCP and president of the state council, and quickly promoted genuine political pluralism. In December 1989 legislation was passed to end the BCP's 'leading role' in the state and allow the formation of free opposition parties and trade unions; political prisoners were freed; and the secret-police wing responsible for dissident surveillance was abolished.

Relations with Turkey
Bulgaria's relations with neighbouring Turkey deteriorated during 1989, following the flight of 300,000 ethnic Turks from Bulgaria to Turkey after the Bulgarian government's violent suppression of their protests at the programme of 'Bulgarianization' (forcing them to adopt Slavic names and resettle elsewhere). The new Mladenov government announced in December 1989 that the forced assimilation programme would be abandoned; this provoked demonstrations by anti-Turk nationalists (abetted by BCP conservatives) but encouraged the gradual return of most Turkish refugees to Bulgaria, greatly improving relations with Turkey.

Market economy
In February 1990 Alexander Lilov, a reformer, was elected party chief, and Andrei Lukanov (1938–96) became prime minister. Zhivkov was imprisoned on charges of corruption and abuse of power. A government decree relegalized private farming and a phased lifting of price controls commenced in April 1990 as part of a drive towards a market economy. Huge price rises and food shortages resulted. In the same month the BCP renamed itself the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP). Petar Mladenov resigned as president in July 1990, and was replaced by opposition leader Dr Zhelyu Zhelev.

In November 1990, after mass demonstrations in Sofia, a general strike, and a boycott of parliament by opposition deputies, the government of Andrei Lukanov resigned. A nonparty politician, Dimitur Popov, took over at the head of a caretaker coalition government, and strikes by workers and students were called off.

End of communist rule
A new constitution was adopted in July 1991 which defined the country as a parliamentary republic with a 'democratic, constitutional, and welfare state'. The general election of that year resulted in a hung parliament and the right-of-centre Union of Democratic Forces (UDF) formed a minority government, headed by Filip Dimitrov. This was Bulgaria's first wholly noncommunist government for 46 years. In 1992 Zhelyu Zhelev became Bulgaria's first directly elected president, and a nonparty 'government of experts' was formed, with Lyuben Berov as prime minister. The European Community formally invited Bulgaria to apply for membership in June 1993. A voucher-based 'mass privatization' programme was launched in August 1993. Berov resigned in September 1994 and Zhelev dissolved parliament. A general election was held in December 1994 and the ex-communist BSP won 125 of the 240 assembly seats. Zhan Videnov, hardline leader of the BSP, became prime minister. He pledged to work towards closer relations with Russia and to reduce the economic hardship associated with market reform by giving more attention to social and welfare issues. Bulgaria agreed to joint military operations with Romania in February 1994.

As part of a programme to cut debt and restore the country's international creditworthiness, almost 70 loss-making companies owned by the state were closed in May 1996. The lev fell in value by more than 25%during the first four months of 1996 and two-thirds of the country's banks were insolvent. However, inflation fell to 30% and the economy was in its third year of modest growth. In June 1996, however, in the first-ever American-style primary election held in eastern Europe, Zhelev failed to secure nomination for the presidency. Following elections in November 1996, Petar Stoyanov of the UDF became president, defeating the BSP-backed candidate; he took office in January 1997.

In the wake of the defeat of the BSP-backed candidate in the November presidential election, Zhan Videnov resigned as leader of the BSP and as prime minister. His deputy, Georgi Parvanov, was elected BSP leader in December 1996, but the opposition UDF, supported by a wave of strikes and demonstrations, boycotted parliament and demanded fresh elections and the immediate dissolution of parliament. The BSP, with a continuing majority, refused to dissolve parliament and nominated the interior minister, Nikolay Dobrev, to take over as prime minister in January 1997, forming a broad-spectrum government of experts. Trade unions responded by calling a general strike on 30 January 1997, and the country faced a mounting economic and political crisis. Inflation spiralled and the lev, which had stood at 70 to the US dollar in early 1996, plummeted to around 1,900 in early 1997. This persuaded Dobrev to agree to the holding of a general election in April 1997 and the formation of an interim government headed by the popular UDF mayor of Sofia, Stefan Sofiyanski. The new government brought the monthly inflation rate down from 243% in February 1997 to 5% in April 1997, and announced that Bulgaria would seek full NATO membership.

The reformist UDF won a majority in the April 1997 general election, attracting 52% of the vote and winning 137 seats in the 240-member parliament. Turnout slumped to 59%. The new government pledged to attack crime and corruption, accelerate privatization, and establish an IMF-imposed currency board to stabilize the currency and inflation rate. The UDF leader Ivan Kostov, a former finance minister, became prime minister.

In January 1997, 85-year-old Todor Zhivkov, Bulgaria's communist leader 1954–89, who had been sentenced to seven years' imprisonment in 1992 for embezzlement and misappropriation of state funds, was released from house arrest.

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