Bulgarians Protest EU Austerity Measures

by Kenneth Schmidt

Kenneth Schmidt highlights Bulgaria’s nationalist Revival party surging in support as it leads fiery protests against adopting the euro, rejecting EU-imposed austerity and loss of sovereignty.

With all the political drama in Romania in recent days, one might be tempted to think that Romania’s neighbor Bulgaria is quiet and peaceful. This, however, is not the case. On February 22nd there were large demonstrations in Sofia, led by the nationalist Revival party and its leader Kostadin Kostadinov. Ten thousand Bulgarians hit the streets to challenge the plan of Prime Minister Rumen Radev to change the currency from the Bulgarian lev to EU currency.

Since one of the conditions of changing to the euro is that the country is being commanded by Brussels to reduce its budget deficit threshold to 3% from its current threshold of 7-8%, Bulgaria would have to go through some tough austerity measures.

There is also concern by many that the resultant shock to the economy would cause massive inflation very similar to the kind suffered in Croatia in 2023 when they went with the euro. Some people in Croatia have said that the cost of living nearly doubled.

The protest, which included the burning of the European Central Bank president Christine Lagarde in effigy and the throwing of red paint and small molotov cocktails, showed the world just how uneasy Bulgarians are about its economy being ruled completely from Brussels rather than Sofia. Two Revival legislators are facing criminal charges arising from the demonstration and there may be more legal action to come.

Revival is the only major political force in the country opposing the change to the euro. A look at the Politico poll-of-polls indicates that Revival’s tough stance on this issue is increasing its popularity. GERB is still in first place with 27% support but Revival is tied for second place with the “We Continue the Change/Democratic Bulgaria” center-right coalition, both with 13%. Revival, founded in 2014, has been gaining ground politically since 2017, with the exception of the October 2024 elections where it lost three seats. I think that Revival will continue to make progress because it’s taking positions popular with the Bulgarian people.